selecting your own nearby safer place · selecting your own nearby safer place you should identify...

Monitor/Manage site3. Monitor ..............................................................Page 9

Manage .............................................................Page 9

Assess site2. Setback Distance ..............................................Page 3

Step 2A: Measure the existing setback distances .............................................Page 4

Step 2B: Determine the type of un-managed vegetation ....................................Page 5

Step 2C: Determine the type of effective slope ..................................................Page 6

Step 2D: Determine the class of effective slope ..................................................Page 7

Step 2E: Calculate the required setback distance ...............................................Page 8

Determine if your site is a suitable Nearby Safer Place ...........................................Page 8

Nearby Safer Places:Selecting your own Nearby Safer Place

You should identify your own nearby safer places in addition to those identified by Tasmania Fire Service.Visit www.fire.tas.gov.au or free call 1800 000 699 to find out about nearby safer places in your area or to receive assistance in selecting your own nearby safer place.

Follow these steps to select your own Nearby Safer Place (NSP):

Select site1.

FACT SHEET | Selecting your own Nearby Safer Place

PREPARE • ACT • SURVIVE

Getting started ..................................................Page 2

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Nearby Safer Places: Selecting your own Nearby Safer Place

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1. Select siteGetting startedLocate a site that you could use as a nearby safer place. Some examples include:

• Maintained Paddocks (slashed or grazed)

• Golf Courses

• Sports Ovals

• Managed Vineyards/Orchards (slashed & irrigated)

• Beaches

• A neighbour’s house

Use the table below to guide your initial site selection. If all the statements below are true then the site is worth further consideration.

Tick whether the following statements are true or false of the site True False

The site has a large clear area free of unmanaged vegetation

Clear areas may include maintained lawns, gardens, sand, gravel, concrete, slashed paddocks etc.

You could access the site quickly during a bushfire

The site should be close-by and easily accessable.

You could access the site safely during a bushfire

Access does not require travel through heavy vegetation. Access is unlikely to be blocked by fallen trees.

The site is free of potential hazards?

• Overhead power lines

• Hazardous materials including chemicals

• Combustable materials

• Other potential safety issues including traffic

The site does not expose you to significant additional risks such as

• Drowning

• Falls from height


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2. Assess siteSetback DistanceWe will now assess whether the site is suitable to use as a nearby safer place based on setback distances. Setback distance refers to the amount of clear space between the site and the surrounding un-managed vegetation.

The setback distance is what protects us from the heat of a bushfire (radiant heat).

Radiant Heat

• Radiant heat is the warmth you feel from a candle, campfire or radiator heater

• Radiant heat travels in straight lines radiating out from flames

• Bushfires can produce enormous amounts of radiant heat

• Radiant heat is a major killer in bushfires

• The best protection from radiant heat is distance

An adequate setback distance will protect people from radiant heat by providing distance from unmanaged vegetation:


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Step 2A: Measure the existing setback distancesFigure 2A

Quadrant Existing Setback Distance

Vegetation Type Slope Type Slope Class Required Setback Distance

Example 275 meters

A

B

C

D

To measure the existing setback distances divide your site into four quadrants, as shown in figure 2A. For each quadrant measure the shortest existing setback distance.

There are a number of ways to do this:

• Pace out in the field (one large stride is roughly one metre)

• Measure on Google earth, Listmap (http://maps.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/app/list/map) or other web based mapping program

• Measure in the field with a range finder or tape measure

• Measure using a paper topographic map or street atlas

Worksheet

Record the existing setback distances for each quadrant in the worksheet below.

http://maps.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/app/list/map





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Step 2B: Determine the type of un-managed vegetation

Un-managed vegetation

• Areas of continuous vegetation such as native bush-land, scrub, grassland, timber plantation or agricultural land that is not slashed or ploughed etc.

• During a bushfire different classes of vegetation will produce different levels of radiant heat

• Therefore the class of un-managed vegetation adjacent to your site will influence the size of the setback distance required to provide protection from the radiant heat

For each quadrant, classify and record the type of unmanaged vegetation adjacent to your site using the table below.

Heavy Forest Light forest Scrub Grasslands

• Trees over 10 metres in height

• Canopy cover greater than 30%

• Crowns of trees overlap

• With understory of scrub or small trees

• Difficult to walk through in a straight line

• Trees up to 30 metres in height

• Sparse canopy: distinct spaces between the crowns of trees

• Open scrub understory, often grassy

• Not difficult to walk through in a straight line

• Shrubs ranging in height

• Often dense

• There may be occasional trees present but these are generally isolated

• Difficult to walk through

• All forms, including situations with shrubs and trees, if the overstorey foliage cover is less than 10%

• Easy to walk through

• Includes:

- Agricultural Land

- Native Grasslands

- Tussock

- Low shrubland (up to 1 metre in height)



Example 275 meters Light Forest

A

B

C

D

Worksheet

Record the Vegetation Type in the worksheet below.


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Step 2C: Determine the type of effective slope

Effective Slope

• Effective slope refers to the slope beneath the unmanaged vegetation in relation to your site

• Not the slope between the un-managed vegetation and your site

• Effective slope influences a bushfires rate of spread, intensity and the level of radiant heat flux produced

• Effective slope has a direct influence on the size of the setback distance required by a nearby safer place

From the table below select the type of effective slope that most accurately represents your site

Flat

Up slope

Down Slope

Record the slope type for each quadrant around your site in the worksheet below.



Example 275 meters Light Forest Downslope

A

B

C

D

Worksheet


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Step 2D: Determine the class of effective slope

Effective Slope

• Upslopes do not increase a bushfire’s intensity or level of radiant heat produced

• Flat ground does not increase a bushfire’s intensity or level of radiant heat produced

• Downslopes do increase a bushfire’s intensity and level of radiant heat produced

• The steeper the downslope the greater the intensity and radiant heat level produced by a bushfire

• This has a direct influence on the size of the setback distance required by a nearby safer place

If you identified the slope type as upslope or flat, for any of the quadrants around your site, enter the slope class as flat in the worksheet below.

If you identified the slope type as downslope for any of the quadrants around your site, use the table below to classify how steep it is in degrees.

Slope Class (degrees) Percentage Gradient Description

20 36% 1 in 3 Difficult to walk up

15 27% 1 in 4Slope is difficult to walk up or you wouldn’t consider driving a 2WD car up

10 18% 1 in 6Moderately difficult to walk up, too steep for cycling

5 9% 1 in 10 Easy to walk up but cycling is difficult

Flat 0% 1 in 0 Level ground

Record the Slope Class in the worksheet below.



Example 275 meters Light Forest Downslope 10°

A

B

C

D

Worksheet


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Step 2E: Calculate the required setback distance

Determine if your site is a suitable Nearby Safer PlaceIf the existing setback distances meet or exceed the required setback distances in your worksheet, your site is suitable to use as a nearby safer place.

If the existing setback distances are less than the required setback distances, your site is not suitable to use as a nearby safer place and you need to select and assess a different site or actively manage vegetation on this site.

If you cannot manage vegetation on this site or another suitable nearby safer place cannot be identified you must adjust your bushfire survival plan to reflect this.

NSP Setback Distance (meters)

Heavy ForestLight Forest or

ScrubGrassland

Slo

pe

(deg

rees

)

Flat95 70 40

225 175 80

5110 85 45

260 200 90

10130 100 55

305 235 100

15155 120 60

360 280 110

20185 140 65

425 330 120

Red a building Green open space



Example 275 meters Light Forest Downslope 10° 235

A

B

C

D

Worksheet

Using the NSP Setback Calculator, match the information you have recorded in the worksheet to calculate the setback distances required for each of the quadrants around your site.

If your site is a building or contains a building that will provide a shield from radiant heat then use the figures in red.

If your site is an open space, use the figures in green.

Enter the required setback distances in the worksheet below.

NSP Setback Calculator


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3. Monitor/Manage site:MonitorIf you have identified and assessed a site suitable to use as a nearby safer place that now forms part of your bushfire survival plan it is important that you monitor the site to ensure it remains suitable over time.

Use the table in section one to revise the selection of your site, ensure that the statements remain true.

Monitor your setback distances and ensure they continue to be managed as a clear area.

ManageIf your nearby safer place is on your own property, manage the site to increase your bushfire safety:

• Slash/graze grass inside your setback distances and along your access route

• Selectively remove trees and shrubs inside your setback distances

Actively manage vegetation

If your nearby safer place is a building which you have responsibility for:

• Clean leaves from the roof, roof gutters and down pipes

• Maintain the exterior free of flammable materials such as wood piles, awnings and outdoor furniture

• For more tips on how to prepare buildings for bushfires visit www.fire.tas.gov.au


An essential guide to

preparing yourself

and your property

for bushfires.

More information

free call 1800 000 699

www.fire.tas.gov.au

BUSHFIREPrepare to Survive


Running time 30 minutes

2010-14


2010-14

An essential guide to

preparing yourself and

your property for bushfires.

Free DVD inside

On this DVD:

New initiatives

Prepare to survive

How bushfires behave

Prepare a Bushfire Survival Plan

Create a defendable space

Leave early or Stay and defend?

If you plan to leave early

If you plan to stay and defend

After the fire has passed

Plan to surviveimportant:

watch this

DVD now!

This Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) DVD provides information to guide you through the steps

you should take to prepare your home, yourself and your family against bushfires.

It answers important questions about what it’s like in a bushfire, why houses burn down

and why people die. It also provides information and advice about whether to leave early,

well before a bushfire arrives, or to stay and defend your well prepared property.

The TFS message is a simple one – fewer lives and homes would be lost if property owners

planned and prepared for bushfires.

Please take the time to watch this DVD – its contents may not only save your property,

it could also save your life and the lives of your family.

Running time 30 minutes

FDRRECOMMENDED ACTION

CATASTROPHIC

FDR 100+

Leaving early is the safest option for your

survival – regardless of any plan to stay and

defend.

EXTREME

FDR 75-99


survival. Only stay if your home is situated

and constructed or modified to withstand a

bushfire and you can actively defend it.

SEVERE

FDR 50-74


survival. Only stay if your home is well

prepared and you can actively defend it.

VERY HIGH

FDR 25-49

Only stay if your home is well prepared and you

can actively defend it.

HIGH

FDR 12-24

Know where to get more information and

monitor the situation for any changes.

LOW-MODERATE

FDR 0-11

Know where to get more information and

monitor the situation for any changes.

0-11LOW-MODERATE

HIGH

VERY

HIG

H

SEVERE

EXTREME 12-24

25-4950-74

75-99

100+

CATASTROPHIC

Letter and checklist enclosed

PREPARE • ACT • SURVIVE Tasmania Fire Service

www.fire.tas.gov.au

PREPARE • ACT • SURVIVE Are YOU bushfire ready?

While the State Fire Commission has made every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained

on this DVD, the State Fire Commission does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or relevance

to the viewer’s purpose, of the information contained in this DVD and those viewing it for whatever purpose are advised to

verify its accuracy and to obtain appropriate professional advice. The State Fire Commission, its officers, employees and

agents do not accept any liability, however arising, including liability for negligence, for any loss or damage resulting from

the use of, or reliance upon, the information contained in this DVD.

© Copyright Tasmania Fire Service 2013

More information free call 1800 000 699

www.fire.tas.gov.au

The Tasmania Fire Service has a wide range of free publications on fire safety and related topics

which can also be downloaded from the website.

A Tasmania Fire Service Initiative

An essential guide to preparing yourself and your property for bushfires.

More information free call 1800 000 699www.fire.tas.gov.au


PREPARE • ACT • SURVIVE Running time 30 minutes

2010-14Nearby Safer Places: Selecting your own Nearby Safer Place

Bushfire Survival PlanIf you live in or near the bush you should prepare a bushfire survival plan setting out

what you are going to do if a bushfire approaches. For a free Bushfire Survival Plan

booklet visit www.fire.tas.gov.au or free call 1800 000 699.

A nearby safer place is only one part of a bushfire survival plan. In the event of an

intense bushfire a nearby safer place should not be your first option and only used as

a place of last resort.

Bushfire Prepare to Survive DVDThe free DVD provides information to guide you through the steps you should

take to prepare your home, yourself and your family against bushfires.

For a copy of the DVD free-call 1800 000 699.

Community Bushfire Protection PlanA plan may have been developed for your area, detailing important bushfire survival

advice specific to your community. Visit www.fire.tas.gov.au or free call 1800 000 699

to find out if a plan is available for your community.

Leaving early is always the safest option.


BUSHFIRESurvival Plan

2013-14

Know your bushfire risk. Make a plan.

Community Bushfire Protection Plan

This plan sets out the things you should do to survive a bushfire. Get the latest version and use it to update your personal Bushfire Survival Plan.

Most of Tasmania is bushfire-prone. Every summer you need to be bushfire-ready.

Tasmania Fire Service may not be able to protect you during some bushfires.

Know what to do and where to go when threatened by bushfire.

Receive bushfire updates from Tasmania Fire Service

For more information please call 1800 000 699 or visit our website www.fire.tas.gov.au

www.facebook.com/TasmaniaFireServicewww.twitter.com/TasFireService (@TasFireService)www.fire.tas.gov.au RSS feeds

Page 1 of 3

Please refer to TFS website for lastest version of this document.

December, 2012 | Version 1.0

TURNERS MARSH AREA Including Lower Turners Marsh, Bangor, Karoola, Lalla & Turners Marsh


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