9. BUSHFIRE ATTACK LEVEL REPORT v1 - NOOSA NORTHSHORE RETREAT · MCU19/0117

Bushfire Attack Level Report v1                                                   NCES REF: J000436
Lot 500 on SP215779 – 90 Beach Road, Noosa North Shore




measured perpendicular to the building elevation would be required. Generic low threat
vegetation conditions are broadly defined in AS 3959:2018. Low hazard vegetation is defined in
the QLD SPP as vegetation with fuel loads of 8 t/ha or less and can include continuous tree cover
over short cropped grass (i.e. VHC 40.4 (Leonard and Opie 2017)).
As a general guide, vegetation management within the APZ should therefore comprise:
    •    Selective removal of large canopy trees (defined as >200mm diameter at breast height)
         so that the expected mature crown drip line (i.e. outer perimeter of crown cover) of
         remaining trees is separated by at least 4m from adjacent trees. This measure aims to
         suppress the risk of a crown fire moving through the APZ. Smooth barked (i.e. flooded
         gums) and fully barked canopy trees (i.e. Corymbia spp.) are to be retained in preference
         to half barked species which exhibit high bark shredding characteristics such as




                                                                                                      DRAFT NOT FOR SUBMISSION PURPOSES
         Blackbutts. Rainforest canopy trees can be retained where present;
    •    Complete removal of all non-rainforest (i.e. eucalypt) recruitment canopy trees and mid
         canopy trees <200mm diameter at breast height. Non-fire promoting rainforest species
         can be retained;
    •    Complete removal of all non-rainforest shrub species;
    •    Complete clearing and mowing/brush cutting of the understorey and then maintenance of
         a grassy groundcover height to less than 10cm. Discrete plantings of low flammability
         groundcovers and shrubs is permissible at a distance >10m from the dwelling.
Note, the extent of clearing described above may require approval from Local, State and
Commonwealth authorities and any recommendations to undertake clearing herein do not
constitute an approval to do so in any shape or form.

6.0 CONCLUSION

The proposed building works located at 90 Beach Road, Noosa North Shore, currently trigger a
BAL Flame Zone construction requirement. Building in BAL Flame Zone is undesirable and
vegetation management (i.e. clearing) is recommended to increase separation distances
between the building and the adjacent hazardous vegetation thereby providing the opportunity to
lower the BAL acting on the building.
Due to the extensive amount of hazardous vegetation flanking the location of the proposed
dwelling, a minimum BAL 29 construction standard separation is recommended, which is
consistent with Assessment Benchmark 3 - Bushfire, flood, landslide, storm tide inundation, and
erosion prone areas outside the coastal management district of the State Planning Policy – state
interest guidance material October 2018
To achieve this outcome, the application should nominate the subject 12m wide APZ on the plan
of development so that it can be approved by Noosa Council.
Note, additional clearing applications may be required to be submitted to other the relevant
authorities (including Council, State and Commonwealth government – where applicable) to
satisfy legislative requirements (i.e. QLD Nature Conservation Act Protected Plants legislation).
BAL 29
A building assessed as being BAL—29 shall comply with Section 3 and Clauses 7.2 to 7.8 of AS
3959:2018.
NOTE: There are a number of Standards that specify requirements for construction; however,
where this Standard does not provide construction requirements for a particular element, the
other Standards apply.
Any element of construction or system that satisfies the test criteria of AS 1530.8.2 may be used
in lieu of the applicable requirements contained in Clauses 7.2 to 7.8 (see Clause 3.8).
NOTES:
BAL—29 is primarily concerned with protection from ember attack and radiant heat greater than
19 kW/m2 and up to and including 29 kW/m2.



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