ASSET PROTECTION ZONE LANDHOLDER BOOKLET for lot 4 v1

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Asset Protection Zone Landholder Booklet v1
Lot 4




1.0 What is an Asset Protection Zone?
Asset protection zones (APZ) provide a defensive tool to assist in the reduction of potential
bushfire impact to people and property situated in bushfire prone areas. An APZ provides:
    •    a buffer zone between a bush fire hazard and an asset
    •    an area of reduced bush fire fuel that allows suppression of fire
    •    an area from which backburning or hazard reduction can be conducted,
    •    an area which allows emergency services access and provides a relatively safe area
         for firefighters and home owners to defend their property.
Potential bush fire fuels should be minimised within an APZ. This is so that the vegetation
within the planned zone does not provide a path for the transfer of fire to the asset either from
the ground level or through the tree canopy.
An APZ, if designed correctly and maintained regularly, will reduce the risk of:
    •    direct flame contact on the asset
    •    damage to the built asset from intense radiant heat ember attack.
The APZ should always be located between an asset and the bushfire hazard.
The site has been confirmed to be located within a Designated Bushfire Prone Area hence
provision of adequate building separation to the adjoining hazardous vegetation is prudent to
minimise bushfire risk to people and property on the site. For illustrative purposes, Plate 1
depicts the concept of asset protection zones adjacent to dwellings in bushfire prone areas.




                                Plate 1 – Asset Protection Zones (NSW PBP 2018)




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Asset Protection Zone Landholder Booklet v1
Lot 4




2.0 What is my Asset Protection Zone?

Table 1 identifies the Council approved Asset Protection Zone for your lot.
Table 1 - Asset Protection Zone Dimensions
 Lot Number               Asset Protection Zone
                          Direction to            Vegetation Slope (across   Distance required to
                          Hazardous Vegetation    slope or downslope)        achieve <29kW/m² radiant
                          from Building                                      heat exposure (m)
                          Envelope (BLE)

                                   North                  across slope                  16
           4                       South
                                   East
                                   West


The APZ dimensions were designed to satisfy Assessment Benchmark 4 of the State Planning
Policy – State Interest Guidance Material (Natural Hazards, Risks and Resilience – Bushfire)
December 2019, which was the applicable assessment framework at the time the
development application for subdivision was lodged with Noosa Shire Council. Assessment
Benchmark 4 states:
To ensure emergency access and operational space for firefighters the subdivision layout
results in lots that are sited so that they are separated from the closest edge to the adjacent
medium, high or very high potential bushfire intensity area by a distance that achieves a
radiant heat flux level of 29 kilowatt per square metre or less at:
1. The building envelope, if identified at RaL stage, or
2. Where a building envelope is not identified, at all the lot boundaries.
Compliance with Assessment Benchmark 4 can be attained where buildings are sufficiently
separated from the nearby forest hazard so that a radiant heat flux level at any point on the
building envelope (BLE), or the lot boundaries where no building envelope is identified, does
not exceed 29 kW/m².
Determination of the separation required to satisfy to Assessment Benchmark 4 was
undertaken during construction of the Bushfire Hazard Assessment completed by NCES for
the subdivision approval. It is noted the plan of development identifies a building envelope on
the lot hence the separation was determined on this basis.




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Asset Protection Zone Landholder Booklet v1
Lot 4




3.0 Maintenance of my Asset Protection Zone?
3.1 Vegetation Management
Vegetation conditions within the APZ must comprise low threat vegetation as per the definition
prescribed in Australian Standard 3959:2018 Construction of Buildings in Bushfire Prone
Areas in order for the resultant AS 3959:2018 Bushfire Attack Level construction standards to
be effective as intended. Clause 2.2.3.2 (f) of the Standard defines Low threat vegetation as:




3.2 Future Landscaping, Regrowth and Fuel Load Reduction
To reduce the potential for bushfire impact to buildings, structures and occupants as a result
of future landscaping, regrowth and fuel load accumulation within the site, the following is
recommended:
    •    APZ’s are maintained as a low threat zone dominated by manicured grass to a nominal
         100mm height which is regularly mowed to reduce fuel loads and the risk of a grassfire
         encroaching toward the dwelling.
    •    Any landscaping within the APZ satisfies the low threat vegetation criteria prescribed
         in section 2.2.3.2 of AS3959-2018 or later iterations thereof, where applicable, and be
         planted as discrete isolated clumps of low flammability vegetation aligned parallel the
         building to aid in interception of ember and smoke attack and not perpendicular and in
         a manner which could transmit fire toward the dwelling;
    •    No woody mulch is used within 2m of buildings;
    •    No non-rainforest trees be planted within 10m of dwellings and no non-rainforest tree
         limbs extend to within 6m of the roof line of dwellings;
    •    Future landscaping works/plantings maximise the use of locally indigenous, low
         flammability species and or low density plantings of suitable open forest /woodland
         species with low bark shedding characteristics. Landholders should consult their local
         native plant nursery for suitable species selection;
    •    Surface fuels and woody regrowth be controlled in the APZ to maintain a low fuel load
         environment. Roof tops, roof gutters and other areas of the dwellings and including
         ancillary infrastructure such as garden sheds be regularly inspected, and debris
         removed to reduce the risk of spot fires developing in the properties during a bushfire
         event.

All queries regarding maintenance of your APZ should be directed to Noosa Shire Council or
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.




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