Planning for Bushfire Prone Areas

This bushfire prone areas course explores the relevant requirements of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, Rural Fires Act 1997 and AS 3959 (Buildings in Bushfire Prone Areas). This course will cover the essentials for designing, planning, and building in bushfire prone areas.

For classes offered in Tasmania, the course will explore the relevant requirements of the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993, Building Act 2016, Fire Service Act 1979, and AS 3959 Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas. 

This course is suitable for planning and development professionals.

Understanding legislation, planning and design principles is vital to protect property and human life from bushfires. Develop your problem solving and analysis skills to implement acceptable protection measures. 

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Learning outcomes

At the end of this bushfire prone areas course you will be able to:

1. Understand bushfire behaviour and approaches to protection of property and human life.
2. Demonstrate a working knowledge of the legislative frameworks and contexts.
3. Apply an understanding of the current status of planning for bushfire-prone areas.
4. Identify and assess issues in bushfire protection and regulation.
5. Conduct bushfire assessments.
6. Consider issues related to biodiversity.
7. Identify key elements in case studies and best practice.

Delivery style

This course will be delivered as an interactive workshop consisting of an instructor-led lecture, group and individual activities. The course is delivered across four intensive workshop days and one practical field trip. This training approach allows participants to work through concepts introduced by the trainer in an application-focused teaching environment. Participants will challenge their understanding of the concepts and consider their application once back in their individual workplace.

This course can be customised and delivered in-house. Find out more >

About the presenters

Colin Wood  is an Environmental Health and Building Surveyor with over 40 years’ experience across Local Government and private practice. He holds degrees in Building and Environmental Health, a Master’s Degree in Building Surveying and a Graduate Diploma in Bushfire Design. Colin has held senior regulatory roles, most recently as Manager of Certification & Compliance at Shoalhaven City Council. He has been a long-standing technical contributor to bushfire-resilient building standards, serving as the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors’ national representative on the AS 3959 revision committee and contributing to multiple editions of the standard. In addition to his regulatory work, Colin lectures and delivers professional training for institutions including the University of Technology Sydney, specialising in building regulation and development assessment in bushfire-prone areas.

Mark Chladil has spent 30 years in at the Tasmania Fire Service where he has been responsible for developing and implementing development controls for bushfire-prone areas. He was a member of the Standards Committee responsible for AS3959 from 2001 to 2022 and participated in drafting the 2009 and 2018 editions of AS3959.

Dr Grahame Douglas is a Research Fellow who has served as course advisor for the Postgraduate Bush Fire Protection program within the university sector. He has research interests in bushfire protection measures through planning and construction practice as well as in the impact of climate change on bushfire behaviour. Grahame worked with the Rural Fire Service of NSW for more than 17 years and was responsible for developing the legislative provisions and policies relating to bushfire risk management planning, development control for bushfire prone areas, environmental impact of hazard reduction activities and assisted in initial changes to the state’s variations to the Building Code of Australia. He was the principal author of Planning for Bushfire Protection 2001 and 2006 and co-authored many journal and conference publications in this area. He is currently Principal Bushfire Consultant with Travers Bushfire & Ecology and supports local government and Applicants in the Land & Environment Court as well as preparing bushfire protection assessments for major developments in NSW.

Stuart Little worked with the NSW Department of Planning for 13 years in bushfire and natural resources policy. He was also one of the authors of ‘Planning for Bushfire Protection’ in 2001 and has been actively involved in its implementation.