Bushfire Planning & Design Blog

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 Protection) to control...

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 3959) “Construction of...

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 extensive spot...

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 older...