Bushfire risk assessment risk management plan 199 Maximillian Road Noosa North Shore Revision 1 - November 2019 · MCU20/0087

                         Ecological Natural Area Management

It is to be noted that, Gilroy & Tran (2006) showed that open forest and woodland ecosystems in
coastal south-east Queensland do not achieve the high fuel loads for equivalent hinterland
vegetation communities in New South Wales and Victoria due to higher humidity leading to a
higher rate of breakdown of leaf litter and so reducing the potential maximum fuel accumulation in
these ecosystems.
State Planning Policy Natural Hazards, Risk and Resilience Technical Manual: A ‘fit for purpose’
approach in undertaking natural hazard studies and risk assessments (Queensland Department of
Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, 2016) also specify potential maximum fuel
accumulation for vegetation communities in Queensland. The vegetation community in the
technical manual that is specific for the subject vegetation is shown on Table 5 below.
Table 7: Excerpt from State Planning Policy Natural Hazards, Risk and Resilience Technical
Manual of potential maximum fuel accumulation for the subject vegetation communities.
 Vegetation Hazard Class                                                   Potential Fuel Load
 9.2 Moist to dry eucalypt open forests on coastal lowlands                    24.1 t/ha
(Queensland Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, 2016, page 21)
From Table 7 above, the vegetation community described in the technical manual has a potential
maximum fuel accumulation less than 25 t/ha.
Methods that can be used for for the assessing fuel loads include:
   • Vegetation sampling and oven drying to derive weight of dry fuel and
   • Estimating fuel load using the Overall Fuel Hazard Guide (McCarthy et. al., 1999).
The actual fuel loads of the impacting vegetation were not assessed, however, based on the above
published potential fuel accumulations from the published literature shown above, this report will
use the next highest acceptable fuel load from AS3959 which is the “Woodland” fuel loads of:
      •    15 t/ha surface fuel load and 25 t/ha total fuel.


7.5       Parameters used in the bushfire behaviour modelling
South east bushfire attack
This modelled fire burns down slope through Eucalyptus racemosa open forest to attack the house
from the south east.
    • Fuel loads used are the “woodland” fuel loads of Australian Standard AS3959 of 25t/ha
       surface fuel & 35t/ha total fuel.
    • Separation of the house from the hazard: 16m
    • Slope in the vegetation = 5.70 with the bush upslope of the house and
    • Site slope = 4.70 with the bush upslope of the house




Bushfire Risk Assessment and Management Plan for a house at 199 Maximillian Road, Noosa North Shore   November 2019

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