Just hoping someone out here can assist us. We have a grant to rebuild our rifle range building that was burnt down in a bushfire last december. We assumed that a planning permit would be ok as it was a replacement of existing, wrong. The local council requires a planning permit which now requires us to have a number of bushfire assessments and fire plans to comply before we start building. I'm assuming we need someone with the expertise for this as I'm not familiar with the Aust Standards quoted for us to comply with. And at what cost. Sounds expensive.
If anyone can assist it would be very much appreciated.
Geoff Robinvale Swan Hill rifle club.
Bushfire management plan
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tachyon
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:44 pm
Re: Bushfire management plan
Getting a BAL (Bushfire Attack Level) assessment is the first step. You can read about the levels here:
https://www.bushfireprone.com.au/what-is-a-bal/
Given the club building was burnt down the bush fire attack level is unlikely to be low but may be lower than it was due to burning off all the surrounding fuel.
Anyway, the reason this is step 1 is that your BAL rating dictates what materials you are allowed to build with (roughly) pine, hardwood, steel, concrete, asbestos. Well maybe not asbestos, but you get the idea. The higher the level the more you are required to use flame-resistant or non-flammable materials.
So, until you have a BAL you can't really design anything because you don't know what materials you can build with. Fortunately, a typical lined tin shed used for club buildings is pretty fire-resistant.
Theoretically, in Victoria, "Anyone can undertake a BAL assessment. However, the assessment must be acceptable to the building surveyor issuing your building permit." Ref: https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/__data/ ... -Areas.pdf
That said, Swan Hill council says "It is strongly recommended that BAL assessments are prepared by accredited Level 1 BAL Assessors, unless otherwise exempted in the WAPC's Guidelines for Planning in Bushfire Prone Areas" Ref: https://www.swan.wa.gov.au/Services-sup ... Assessment
"Strongly recommended" could cynically be read as "otherwise we will reject it".
To give you an idea of what a BAL assessment looks like I've attached a couple I've had done in the last few years. Most of it is just proforma stuff. The cost of getting somebody to do it was ~ $1000 but it would be entirely possible to use one of these as a template and change all the details to suit.
https://www.bushfireprone.com.au/what-is-a-bal/
Given the club building was burnt down the bush fire attack level is unlikely to be low but may be lower than it was due to burning off all the surrounding fuel.
Anyway, the reason this is step 1 is that your BAL rating dictates what materials you are allowed to build with (roughly) pine, hardwood, steel, concrete, asbestos. Well maybe not asbestos, but you get the idea. The higher the level the more you are required to use flame-resistant or non-flammable materials.
So, until you have a BAL you can't really design anything because you don't know what materials you can build with. Fortunately, a typical lined tin shed used for club buildings is pretty fire-resistant.
Theoretically, in Victoria, "Anyone can undertake a BAL assessment. However, the assessment must be acceptable to the building surveyor issuing your building permit." Ref: https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/__data/ ... -Areas.pdf
That said, Swan Hill council says "It is strongly recommended that BAL assessments are prepared by accredited Level 1 BAL Assessors, unless otherwise exempted in the WAPC's Guidelines for Planning in Bushfire Prone Areas" Ref: https://www.swan.wa.gov.au/Services-sup ... Assessment
"Strongly recommended" could cynically be read as "otherwise we will reject it".
To give you an idea of what a BAL assessment looks like I've attached a couple I've had done in the last few years. Most of it is just proforma stuff. The cost of getting somebody to do it was ~ $1000 but it would be entirely possible to use one of these as a template and change all the details to suit.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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saum2
- Posts: 1046
- Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:22 am
Re: Bushfire management plan
Thank you tachyon, I understand what the assessments are just hoping someone could help us out to complete them as it requires accreditation.
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