Wildfire Management Overlay

What's the Wildfire Management Overlay (WMO) All About ?

What's It All About?

Have you applied for a planning permit from your local council recently ? You may have found out that you fall within the Wildfire Management Overlay, and you need to fulfill some special requirements to get a permit.

There are many ways we can plan to survive bushfires. The CFA promotes community preparedness, houses built in high fire risk areas need to conform to the Australian Standard for Building in Bushfire Prone Areas (AS3959) and local government agencies have recently adopted planning requirements (the WMO !) which they believe will make houses safer in severe bushfires.

What Does It Mean ?

Basically new dwellings and extensions etc which require a planning permit will need to incorporate a Building Protection Zone (BPZ) which is clear of vegetation for about 30m around the house. This is not much of a change from current practice, and most people in bushfire prone areas would have knowledge of this zone as a basic requirement for maximizing house survival.

In some high risk vegetation types (such as medium height forest, heath, tall forests for example), low fuel areas need to be larger than the BPZ. The WMO suggests that in these specific vegetation types, a further Fuel Modified Buffer Zone (FMBZ) is required. This will add about another 60m or so where fuels are modified and kept low. Distances vary with slope, aspect (ie the direction the slope faces) and vegetation type.

What Do You Need to Do ?

You have two basic choices to comply with the requirements of the WMO and get your planning permit.
  1. You can accept the recommendations set out in the WMO, and opt to simply comply with these.
  2. On high risk sites you may need to modify nearly a hectare. So if you have a small block, you might need to modify the whole of your property. If you live in a high conservation value area, you might want to preserve native vegetation, and you may not want to modify a large FMBZ.
If you don't want to comply with the WMO requirements, you can suggest how YOUR OWN PLAN will ensure fire safety on your property. Options may include adding sprinkler systems, variations in housing design and materials etc. As you think about fire safety, you might come up with a whole range of options which might allow you to modify the requirements of the FMBZ. Your plan will be assessed for fire safety by CFA Regional personnel. You do not have to accept the recommendations in the WMO, but if you don't, YOU need to think of some alternatives, and have them assessed by an expert in bushfire survival. You might get some advice from a consultant to help put together a bushfire safety plan, just as many people commonly use an architect to assist with house design now. The aim of the planning requirements is simply that your new dwelling (and you !) will be able to survive a bushfire burning through your property.
Top Christmas Hills Fire Brigade