Guideline for Building in Bushfire Prone Areas Wye River & Separation Creek The 2015 Christmas Day Bushfires resulted in the loss of 116 houses in Wye River and Separation Creek on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. The government and community have worked together to not only...

As a nation who celebrates “droughts and flooding rains” it is odd that we are so resistant to accepting the persistence of bushfires at the urban interface. Bushfires are a part of Australian environment. Not all bushfires are controllable and for fires that burn on blow up...

Bushfire has been a natural part of our landscape for thousands of years and remains an ever-present threat for our community. With increasing urban development and a climate that is getting drier and warmer, bushfires are an increasing risk for people in bushfire prone areas....

The management of bushfires is a shared responsibility at all levels of society. In general terms, an acceptable level of protection from bush fires can be achieved through a combination of strategies which: Put standards in place (such as AS3959 and Planning for Bushfire...

I heard an interesting comment recently, that it is “Not a good idea to live in the flame zone.” For many people living on the bush interface, this is not an option. The highest level of bushfire attack level (BAL) is known as BAL Flame Zone. Australian Standard (AS 395...

Bushfires of low or moderate intensity often pose little threat to life, property and community assets. However, bushfires that burn in heavy fuels, steep terrain or on hot, dry and windy days often spread rapidly, crown in forests, produce powerful convection columns and create...

The simple answer is planning decisions of the past often did not take into consideration a range of natural hazards (ie flood, slip, acid sulphate soils etc), standards were not in place (AS3959 was first published in 1991) and development often occurred in a ad-hoc way. Many...