november 2009

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 1 Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan

Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Fire Management Section, Parks and Wildlife Service, GPO Box 1751 Hobart , Tasmania 7001

Phone: 03 6363 5182 Fax: 03 6363 5124 www.parks.tas.gov.au

Published November 2009 © copyright State of Tasmania, 2009

ISBN 9780980637656 3

Contents

Strategic Plan 2008–2010 Statement

1. Strategic Fire Management Planning 4. Fire Prevention 1.1 Approach...... 3 4.1 Context...... 19 1.2 Chapter...... 3 4.2 Objective...... 19 1.3 Objectives...... 3 4.3 Strategies and Actions...... 19 1.4 Development of the Strategic Fire Management Plan 5. Preparedness 1.4.1 Project Outputs...... 4 5.1 Context...... 25 1.4.2 Project Scope...... 4 5.2 Objective...... 25 1.5 Fire Management for PWS in Tasmania...... 6 5.3 Strategies and Actions...... 25 1.5.1 Planning Structure...... 6 1.5.2 Strategic Objectives...... 6 6. Response – Reaction 1.5.3 Fire Management Policy and Legislation...... 6 6.1 Context...... 26 6.2 Objective...... 26 2. Northern Region 6.3 Strategies and Actions...... 26 2.1 Project Background...... 7 2.2 Objective...... 7 7. Recovery – Restoration 2.3 Area Description...... 7 7.1 Context...... 29 2.4 Fire History 7.2 Objective...... 29 2.4.1 Fire Frequency...... 10 7.3 Strategies and Actions...... 29 2.4.2 Fire Regime...... 10 8. Standards, Monitoring and Reporting 2.4.3 Fire Cycle...... 10 8.1 Context...... 29 2.4.4 Fire Size...... 10 8.2 Objective...... 29 2.4.5 Fire Intensity...... 11 8.3 Strategies and Actions...... 29 2.4.6 Fire Type...... 11 2.5 Fire Environment 9. Resource Requirements 2.5.1. Climate and Weather...... 12 9.1 Managing the Strategic Fire Management Plan...... 30 2.6. Values at Risk...... 15 9.2 Implementation of the Strategic Fire Management Plan 2.6.1 Constructed...... 15 ...... 30 2.6.2 Forest/Agriculture...... 15 10. Reference Documents...... 31 2.6.3 Natural...... 15 2.7 Fuel Groups...... 15

3. Bushfire Risk Assessment ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY PWS STAFF 3.1 Bushfire Risk Assessment Process...... 16 3.2 Regional Outputs � 3.2.1 Ignition Potential...... 16 3.2.2 Suppression Capabilities...... 16 3.2.3 Values at Risk...... 16 3.2.4 Fire Behaviour Potential...... 16 3.3 Bushfire Risk Analysis...... 16

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 1 Lists of Appendices and Maps

Table 1: Timeline Development Strategic Fire Management Map 1: Constructed Values Map...... 50 Plan...... 5 Map 2: Forest/ Agriculture Value Map...... 51 Table 2: Document of Authority or Direction...... 6 Map 3: Natural Value Map...... 52 Table 3: Temporal Fire Distribution 1966 – 2007...... 10 Map 4: Flammability Map...... 53 Table 4: Fire Size Distribution 1966 – 2007...... 11 Map 5: Fuel Group Map...... 54 Table 5: Classification of Fire Occurrence/ Area Burned...... 11 Map 6: Ignition Potential Map...... 55 Table 6: Forest Fire Danger Index Exceeds – Very High and Map 7: Suppression Capabilities Map...... 56 Extreme /Decade...... 12 Map 8: Values at Risk Map...... 57 Table 7: Fire Occurrence by Cause/Month/Decade...... 13 Map 9: Fire Behaviour Potential Map...... 58 Table 8: Fuel Group/TASVEG Type...... 15 Map 10: Likelihood Grid...... 59 Table 9: Northern Region BRAM Risk Summary...... 16 Map 11: Consequences Grid...... 60 Table 10: Major Reserve Summary...... 17 Map 12: Risk Grid...... 61 Table 11: Incidents within Coastal Reserves...... 18 Map 13: Freycinet National Park Risk Map...... 62 Table 12: Strategic Fire Trails...... 21 Map 14: Narawntapu National Park Risk Map...... 63 Table 13: Threaten Flora Priority Areas...... 24 Map 15: Mt William National Park Risk Map...... 64 Table 14: Preparedness Matrix...... 25 Map 16: Ben Lomond National Park Risk Map...... 65 Table 15: Suppression Strategies – Dry Sclerophyll...... 27 Map 17: Trevallyn Nature Recreation Area Risk Map...... 66 Table 16: Suppression Strategies – Moorland Buttongrass.....27 Map 18: Port Sorell Conservation Area Risk Map...... 67 Table 17: Typical Rate of Spread for BRAM Fuel Map 19: Cradle Mt/ Lake St Clair National Park Risk Map.....68 Group 1 and 2...... 28 Map 20: Central Plateau Conservation Area Risk Map...... 69 Table 18: Wildfire Management Decision Support Matrix.....28 Map 21: Walls of Jerusalem National Park Risk Map...... 70 Map 22: Northern Regional Strategic Fire Trails...... 71 Appendix 1: Northern Region Reserve Breakdown...... 32 Map 23: Northern Regional Fire Management Zones...... 72 Appendix 2A: Ignition Potential Flow Diagram...... 36 Map 24: Northern Regional Fire Mitigation Priorities...... 73 Appendix 2B: Suppression Capabilities Flow Diagram...... 37 Appendix 2C: Values at Risk Flow Diagram...... 38 Appendix 2D: Fire Behaviour Potential Flow Diagram...... 39 Appendix 3A: Consequence Table...... 40 Appendix 3B: Likelihood Table...... 41 Appendix 3C: Qualitative Risk Matrix...... 41 Appendix 4: State Fire Commission Statement Policy 1/07...... 42 Appendix 5: Infrastructure Development...... 43 Appendix 6: Daily Fire Action Plan...... 44 Appendix 7: Fire Awareness Safety Briefing form...... 46 Appendix 8: AFAC Landscape Indicators...... 47 Appendix 9: Parks and Wildlife Strategic Plan...... 48 Appendix 10: Regional Local Council Groups...... 49

2 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 what the contributing factors that caused the level of risk, land Strategic Statement management authorities then can determine whether they could mitigate or accept the risk. Parks and Wildlife Service Strategic Plan 2008–2010 1.2 Project Charter The Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) is responsible for Vision Statement managing nearly 2.5 million hectares of reserved land and other Crown Land. Most of this land is covered by flammable native To protect, present and manage in concert with the community, vegetation, with thousands of kilometres of boundaries with Tasmanian unique and outstanding reserve systems for all the neighbouring private property and State forest. Like all land people, for all time. owners, the PWS has a legal obligation to keep fire on its own land. Mission Statement However, the PWS has never undertaken a strategic To create and maintain a representative and world renowned assessment of the risk exposure in relation to wildfire and reserve system. To conserve the State’s natural and cultural therefore, there is no logical basis for identifying priorities for heritage while providing for sustainable use and economic works and expenditure, except at the local level. opportunities for the Tasmania community. The Operational Safety Audit of Fire Management within the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, (Ellis, 2005) The Strategic Plan recommended that the PWS undertake a statewide risk assessment and a review of Fire Management Risk (Rawson, The plan is set out in six core programs, with clear objectives, 2006) recommended that the PWS undertake the preparation strategies and performance indicators. Our business is complex of a strategic fire management plan for each region. The PWS and therefore the objectives are listed according to their Strategic Plan 2008 – 2010 includes the strategy: Develop primary program areas, however cross-program relationships regional strategic fire management plans. are acknowledged. Program five is now focused on fire management as this area is and will continue to be one of The Strategic Fire Management Planning project has been Parks and Wildlife Service core responsibilities. Identifying it as a instigated to implement recommendations of the Ellis and program reflects the emphasis placed on the program. Rawson reports and to address wildfire risk to land managed by the PWS by developing a wildfire risk assessment method, computer based tools to conduct the risk assessment, and Fire Management Program Objective 5.1 a strategic fire management plan for each PWS Region to To manage fire and minimize the risks of wildfires mitigate the bushfire risk.

1.3 Objectives 1.The Strategic Fire The objective of the Strategic Fire Management Planning Project is to develop a consistent approach to fire management Management Planning planning that address the wild fire risk to land managed by the PWS, contributes to the PWS strategic plan and to facilitate 1.1 Approach compliance with recommendations of the Rawson review of fire management risk and the Ellis operational safety audit by: Effective wildfire management requires departmental commitment and expenditures of adequate resource over time. 1. Developing and Implementing of a fire management The allocation of sufficient funding is always a challenge with planning framework for the PWS and strategic fire competing demands on government budget and the changing management plans for each region; global economy. A balanced strategic approach is required to first determine what is at risk and what resources or actions 2. Developing a risk management system to assess, identify, are required to mitigate it. prioritise and manage the risk posed by wildfire hazard to or in relation to land managed by the PWS and its values; The Strategic Fire Management Plan will provide a strategic approach to all facets of fire management planning. It covers 3. Developing and implementing operational strategies and a review for the state requirements for Fire Prevention, tactics for prevention, preparedness, response and recovery Fire Preparedness, Fire Reponses and Fire Recovery. It is at a regional level that take into account environmental and intended to provide direction for the development of regional cultural heritage requirements operational plans. The strength in the document lies with the 4. Effectively involving the public and other stakeholders in wholly strategic approach across jurisdictional boundaries; the development of the PWS wildfire risk management all assumptions were applied statewide identifying statewide system. challenges. The bushfire risk is displayed and analyses to indicate

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 3 1.4 Development of the Strategic Fire land owned or managed by infrastructure providers such Management Plan as telecommunications companies, gas companies and the like, or Reserved land subject to a lease for exclusive use. • The project will develop management prescriptions for 1.4.1 Project outputs strategic fire management zones as treatments for risk 1. A fire management planning framework for land managed management. by the PWS providing a keystone for strategic fire management plans and subsidiary fire planning documents; 2. Strategic fire management Objectives for land managed by Figure 1: Risk Management Process Overview the PWS; 3. GIS tools and computer models to conduct wildfire risk assessments; 4. A dynamic AS/NZS 4360:2004 compliant landscape scale wildfire risk assessment of land managed by the PWS; CONTEXT: Manage fire and 5. A strategic fire management zoning system and map minimize the risk of wildfires for land managed by the PWS; 6. A strategic fire management plan for each Region of the Parks and Wildlife Service; 7. Community and other stakeholder satisfaction with the planning process and strategic plan; IDENTIFY RISKS: Ignition Potential, Suppression COMMUNICATE MONITOR 8. Delivery to and facilitation with uptake of the plan Capabilities, Fire Behaviour and CONSULT: and REVIEW: by each Region and relevant stakeholders. Potential, Values at Risk Stakeholder Performance Committee, Indicators, AFAC 1.4.2 Project scope Newsletter, Landscape Community Performance • The project will develop a wildfire risk assessment Forums Measures process that complies with the Australian Standard AS/NZS 4360:2004 (see Figure 1); ANALYSE RISK: Bushfire • The project will develop GIS and other computer Risk Assessment Model tools, or use those already available, to facilitate a landscape scale wildfire risk assessment based on Canadian and WA models; • The project will work with relevant experts to develop flammability, fire sensitivity, value ratings, fire response and EVALUATE RISK: Reserve appropriate management actions for values and assets. The Assessment analysis review extent of these model inputs will be limited to what can be practically developed within the timeframes indicated later in this plan; • The project will conduct a landscape scale risk assessment. This will include land of all tenure; TREAT RISK: • The project will develop a map of strategic fire management zones for land that the PWS has Prevention – Education, management responsibility as treatment zones for risk Enforcement, Engineering, management. This includes land reserved under the Fire Management Nature Conservation Act 2002 and managed under the Zones, Asset Protection National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002, Crown Methodology Land, and Public Reserves. This does not include, private Preparedness – Fire property, private property subject to a conservation Action Plan covenant under the Nature Conservation Act 2002, State Response – Wildfire Forest or Forest Reserves, land owned or managed by Management Decision Local Council, land owned or managed by Government Support Matrix Business Enterprises such as Transend, Aurora or Hydro Tasmania, land owned or managed by the Commonwealth,

4 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Approach Date Task The Strategic Fire Management Plan process for PWS has been developed progressively over the last 18 months (see Table 1). Draft Bushfire Risk Assessment threat map September/08 An in-depth review occurred of interstate and international produced agencies to see what was being presently being utilized in the Commencement of Interface development for field. It was then determined that before PWS develops a Fire October/08 Management Strategy it must first determine where and if a Bushfire Risk Assessment Model(BRAM) risk actually existed. Work commenced on the development of October – a Bushfire Risk Assessment model and the other fire agencies Q/A testing of beta version of interface model December/08 (Tasmania Fire Service, Forestry Tasmania) indicated that there was a need for a statewide seamless output. Therefore entire 06/10/08 PWS endorsement for BRAM model state values have been collected where possible regardless of tenure. Commitments to provide for annual updates have been made by the various suppliers of data. 30/12/08 Draft Northern Region SFMP complete

15/01/09 BRAM Phase 1 complete Table 1: Time lines of Development On completion of the strategic fire management planning Date Task project the process in which planned burns and wildfires will be managed on PWS managed land will be a function of the Development of Project Plan, Charter and 01/06/07 available funding and the implementation of the entire fire Scope management planning framework.

18/06/07 Development of Communication Plan The success of the Strategic Fire Management Plans will be dependent on these measures being implemented over a 30/06/07 PWS Executive Approval of Project Plan number of years and will not be measurable during the life of this project (i.e. next two years). 10/07/07 Draft Project Objectives

15/08/07 Research Risk Assessment Models Consultation A communication plan was developed early on in the process. November/ Formation of Steering, Stakeholder Committees The objectives of this communication plan were to: December 07 and Working Groups • Raise community and other stakeholder awareness of the 15/12/07 GM Approval of Objectives strategic fire management planning project; • To facilitate community and other stakeholder consultation 01/01/08 Commence data collection for Risk Model in the project allowing a method to capture local knowledge and review community concerns; 15/02/08 Research defining Fire Management Zones • To keep interested stakeholders informed and involved IT Consultant commencing development of during the process; 22/02/08 Context layers • To reduce possible misinformation about the project objectives, outputs and tenure of land covered by the Ignition Potential layer complete June 15 strategic fire management plan; Suppression Capabilities layer complete June 30 June/August/08 Values at Risk layer complete July 15 This was achieved by the development of various working Fire Behaviour Potential layer complete groups with the identification, categorization of stakeholders August 1 and target groups being developed. The message was disseminated to the various audiences by the use of an Stakeholder Committee support for Bushfire 07/07/08 Information Newsletter, Intranet and Internet sites. Risk Assessment Model The Stakeholder Committees consisted of membership from Support for SFMP project from Tasmania the following organizations; 14/07/08 National Parks Association Parks and Wildlife Service August/08 Commence Northern Region SFMP Department of Primary Industries and Water Tasmania Fire Service Forestry Tasmania

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 5 Forest Industries Association of Tasmania allow natural fire regimes to resume in the landscape where State Emergency Service feasible. Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association The objective of the development of the Strategic Fire Local Government Association of Tasmania Management Plan for the Parks and Wildlife Service is to present an opportunity to change from existing fire Department of Premier and Cabinet management practices in order to develop a landscape Natural Resource Management North approach strategy that minimizes human manipulation and Natural Resource Management South suppression activities while achieving key goals. Cradle Coast Natural Resource Management To assist in the implementation Fire Management will follow a Tasmanian Aboriginal Land and Sea Council two fold approach: First with Wildfire Managementthrough the development and implementation of Fire Management Zone protocols, this 1.5 Fire Management for the Parks will provide direction for assessing and actioning wildfire within and Wildlife Service in Tasmania each identified zone (see page 22 Fire Management Zones). Second in the application of a Planned Fire component the introduction of various sizes, arrangements and intensities of 1.5.1 Planning Structure fire can achieve a variety of management objectives (see page Planning for fire management in the Parks and Wildlife Service 23 Planned Fire Strategy). The various strategic burns will assist will operate in a multi tiered structure: in the implementation of the Wildfire Management Zone First tier will be at the state level which will address legislation, protocols. code or practices and policy and procedure requirements. Second tier will be at the regional level, involving the 1.5.3 Fire Management Policy and Legislation development of Regional Strategic Fire Management Plans, The authority and direction for the Parks and Wildlife Service regional operational procedures, reserve plans and annual in regard to fire management comes from legislation and operational plans. departmental policy (see Table 2). Fire Management Section is Third tier will be at the Field Centre level which will address presently reviewing and updating policies as required and in daily prevention preparedness, and the development of future will look at amendments to the existing legislation to individual works plans for specific areas of interest. assist in the management of fire protection.

Table 2: Document of Authority or Direction 1.5.2 Strategic Objectives

The Parks and Wildlife Service has the following responsibilities Legislation Relevant Section in relation to wildfire: • to protect people – visitors and neighbours; Fire Services Act 1979 Section 45

• to protect values on neighbouring properties from fires National Parks and Reserve Section 30 and 88A that spread from reserved land and Crown land; Management Act 2002 • to protect the conservation values of reserves, particularly Crown Lands Act 1976 fire sensitive vegetation and species for which wildfire is a threat; Threatened Species Protection Act • to provide a safe work environment for staff and fire- 1995 fighters from other agencies engaged in fire suppression operations. Aboriginal Relics Act 1975

Historically, the focus of fire management statewide has been Land Use Planning and Approvals fire suppression. Current practices need to shift and take Act 1993 in consideration both the positive and negative impacts of wildfires. Natural or Planned fires remove fuel accumulation, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 therefore resulting in less intense and severe wildfires. Natural fire cycles will differ in frequency and intensity depending on Forest Practices Act 1985 geographic location. The interruption of the natural cycle results in a build-up of fuels which have the potential to create larger State Coastal Policy 1996 fires and higher fire intensities than may have occurred naturally. A strategic and adaptive approach will recognise the need to Water Management Act 1999/ State Policy on Water Quality Management 1997

6 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Note: only the most relevant legislation is listed here. the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (Ellis 2005) by: PWS Fire Management Subject 1. Development and implementation of a fire management Policies planning framework for the PWS, and strategic fire management plans for each region; PR-057 Fire Duties Availability and recall 2. Developing a risk management system to assess, identify, P-048 Fire and Developments (buildings) prioritise and manage the risk posed by wildfire hazard to or in relation to land managed by the PWS P-049 Fire fighter fitness policy 3. Develop and implementing operational strategies and tactics for prevention, preparedness, response and recovery at P-050 Fire Management Policy a regional level that take into account environmental and cultural heritage requirements P-052 Planned Burning 4. Effectively involve the public and other stakeholders in the PR-019 Wildfire Database Reporting Procedures development of the PWS wildfire risk management system. A Bushfire Risk Assessment was developed for the entire state PR-045 Fire Duty Officer Procedures of Tasmania in 2008. An analysis of the extracted data will be the PR-046 Inexperience fire fighters on the fire ground basis for the mitigation strategies in the regional strategic fire management plans, as each region will have unique challenges Fire fighter Personal Protective Equipment and opportunities. The goal is to develop a process that allows PR-047 procedures systems to be in place before, during and after a wildfire that would reduces injuries, loss of life, damage to environment, PR-048 Wildfire Response Procedures heritage and cultural values, economic loss and social disruption.

PR-052 Vehicle Emergency Lights Procedures

PR-100 Fire Vehicle Specifications 2.3 Area Description: The Northern Region encompasses an area from the Mersey SWP-010 Fire fatigue management River in the west, to the far NE coast, and south to Coles Bay and the Central Plateau Conservation Area in the SW. It also G - 101 PWS Incident Management Teams includes the islands of the Furneaux and Kent Groups. Major reserves of the region include Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Central Plateau Conservation Area, Trevallyn State Reserve, Ben Lomond National Park, Tamar Island Wetland Centre, Mole Creek Karst National Park, Narawntapu National Park, Freycinet 2. Northern Region National Park, Douglas Apsley, Mt William, Strzelecki and the Kent Group National Park. 1539 individual land area with a combined area of 439,248 hectare are managed by Northern Region 2.1 Project Background staff. (see Appendix 1: Northern Region Reserve breakdown). This The Parks and Wildlife Strategic Plan identifies the need to Parks and Wildlife Service jurisdiction incorporates fifteen local develop Regional Strategic Fire Management Plans, along with government councils in part or whole (see Appendix 10 and performance indicators showing that the percent and area Figure 2) and is along side multi land tenures (see Figure 3). negatively impacted by wildfire decreases over time. The Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council are in the process of developing National Landscape Fire Performance Indicators and when complete PWS will adjust its indicators to align with these.

2.2 Objectives The objective of the Strategic Fire Management Planning Project is to develop a consistent approach to fire management planning that addresses the bushfire risk to land managed by the Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS), contributes to the departmental strategic plan and to facilitate compliance with recommendations of the Review of Fire Management Risk (Rawson 2006) and the Operational Safety Audit for

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 7 Figure 2: Map of Council Boundaries

8 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Figure 3: Map of Land Tenure

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 9 2.4 Fire History as the ‘fire regime’. The variability of all of these factors is also known to be very important and contributes to determining the species present in an area. Variability contributes to maintaining 2.4.1 Fire Frequency biodiversity. Fire frequency is defined as the total number of fires that The season, intensity and frequency of burning are all factors occurred over a period of time. The PWS or its past authority which must be considered when prescribing fire as an ecological maintained records of fires attended by its staff on or near the management tool. Fires must be sufficiently intense to stimulate land that it manages. The earlier years records are incomplete flowering and germination of plants (e.g. Jones, 1988; Auld & and for the purpose of this report only the information on fires O’Connell, 1989; Bradstock & Auld, 1995), frequent enough that have affected PWS reserve land and fought by Forestry to prevent the dominance of tall shrub species in heathlands Tasmanian and or PWS staff were used. Records that were (e.g. Specht & Specht, 1989; Keith & Bradstock, 1994), but not available indicated that in the 42 years since 1966 a total of so frequent as to eliminate plant species which require time to 426 fires have occurred in what is now the Northern Region, reach flowering age and produce seed (e.g. Benson, 1985; Gill & burning a total of 156,170.24 hectares. In 2006 -3 fires occurred Bradstock, 1992). It is also essential to allow variation in the inter- which burnt 36,353.54 hectares of forested land. Annual fire fire interval to maintain species diversity (e.g. Bradstock et al., frequency has been variable from 1966 to 2007, ranging from 1995; Morrison et al., 1995; Cary & Morrison, 1995). zero to 22 fires occurring per year. Fire statistics had a wide variation from numbers /year to area burned (see Table 4). Notwithstanding the lack of knowledge about the long-term fire history of the reserves in the PWS Northern Region of Tasmania, Table 3: Temporal Fire Distribution in Northern the fire-adapted nature of most of the native vegetation is well Region 1966–2008 recognised. A single wildfire is not thought to be a threat to the long term survival or continued presence of any plant or animal species, except in the wetter vegetation communities such Number Time Period Area Burned (ha) as rainforest or wet eucalypt forest and alpine and sub alpine of Fires communities. An inappropriate fire regime, however, may lead to 2000 – 2008 173 90,847.66 the reduction in abundance of some species or their complete extinction within some areas. 1990 – 1999 173 32,772.85 The objective of vegetation management in reserves is to maintain a range of successional ages of vegetation communities 1980 – 1989* 52 15,786.70 and fire intervals. In so doing, it is hoped that all of the species which are present may be maintained in perpetuity. The PWS 1970 – 1979* 22 10,392.2 recognises that, to see this objective realised, it is necessary to deliberately burn some areas: fire is considered to be a natural 1966 – 1969* 0 None recorded part of the environment. The PWS also appreciates that even with an ecological burning program, we cannot be certain that *Records prior to 1990 are very incomplete. we will maintain all species populations, because of the very limited knowledge of appropriate fire regimes which is currently 2.4.2 Fire Regime available. Fire plays an important role in maintaining species diversity in most of the native vegetation in Australia, particularly 2.4.3 Fire Cycle in eucalypt forest, coastal heathlands and related shrubby Fire cycle is defined as a period of time within which an area communities (e.g. Gill & Groves, 1981; Harris, 1991; Bradstock equal to the total vegetation type will be burned (Tolhurst 2000). et al., 1995). This detail fire cycle information is not presently available for the There is good evidence that the indigenous people applied region. A study of similar geographic areas could be undertaken regular burning to at least some areas in Tasmania for thousands to look for similar conclusions. In general, the fire cycle in this of years, although the extent to which Aboriginal burning has area has a high level of complexity due to the number of small modified or influenced the vegetation is a controversial topic size vegetation types. (Bowman, 1998). Before the arrival of the Aboriginal people, lightning strikes were the only source of ignition which probably produced a very different pattern of burning to that imposed 2.4.4 Fire Size by aborigines. It is certain, however, that fire has been present in Because detailed fire information is not available for the region the Tasmanian environment for a long time. As a consequence, prior to 1966 only the statistics since that time can be reviewed. most native plant and animal species are adapted to cope with In the Northern Region there have been 420 wildfires recorded fire at least to some extent. between 1966 and 2008. The largest fire that affected a reserve occurred in 2006 and burned 30,900 which was 20 % of the area The concept of a ‘fire regime’ is an important one for land burned during this period in time. Over 75% of the fires during managers. Together, the variables of fire frequency, season of fire that timeframe were under 100 ha (see Table 5). occurrence, fire severity and fire size comprise what is known

10 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Table 4: Fire Size Distribution in Northern Region 1966 – 2008

Size Count %Occurrence Area Burned (ha) % Total Area

<1 106 25.2 32.38 0.02

1 to 4 77 18.3 192.08 0.12

5 to 10 38 9.0 291.66 0.19

11 to 40 62 14.8 1512.61 0.97

41 to 100 34 8.1 2232.72 1.43

101 to 1000 76 18.1 23,426.18 15.0

1001> 27 6.4 128,482.61 82.3

Total 420 156,170.24

2.4.5 Fire Intensity 2.4.6 Fire Type Fire intensity is a measurement of the amount of energy Fire Type refers to the true cause of the fire, either human released per given length of flame front (kw/m). The fire regime caused or ignited by lightning. The total leading cause of fires in the area can be best described as having frequent small, low for the Northern Region from 1966 -2008 was human caused intensity fire surface fires. The majority of the region falls within which accounted for 98.6% of the total fire occurrences and a dryer climate zone of Tasmania which supports low surface about 89 % of the area burned. Human caused fires can be fuel decomposition rates, high surface fuel accumulation rates. further broken down by true causes as defined by PWS causes; This combination can develop areas that support high intensity Table 6 outlines the further detail which allows for analysis and stand replacing fire events in wet eucalypt forests and regular target groups for prevention strategies. fires in dry eucalypt forest, scrub and heath communities.

Table 5: Classification of Fire Occurrence by Cause / Area burned in Northern Region 1966–2008

General Cause Count % Occurrence Area Burned (ha) %Area Burned

Lightning 6 1.4 17,234.02 11.0

Human 414 98.6 138,936.22 89.0

Total 420 100 156,170.24 100

Cause Detail

Lightning 6 1.4 17,234.02 11.0

Other 45 10.7 7827.96 5.0

Escape 65 15.5 72,214.48 46.2

Unknown 59 14.0 11,871.43 7.6

Accident 17 4.0 1900.36 1.2

Resident 2 0.5 11 0.01

Not Identified 17 4.0 4030.14 2.6

Arson 204 48.6 37,475.92 24.0

Wildfire Spot 1 0.2 2896.86 1.8

Planned Burn Escape 4 0.9 708.07 0.5

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 11 2.5 Fire Environment When reviewing the data supplied in Table 7 one can draw some general conclusions that the trend for exceeding Fire Danger Index triggers of 25 and 50 are on a sufficient increase since 2.5.1 Climate and Weather 2000 to past records available. A fire season is defined as the period of time in which fires Monthly variations in the occurrence of bushfires can be are most likely to occur. Fire seasons can vary geographically explained by variations weather patterns and correlates with and helps to define fire regimes. Across the southern part of periods of time when there is high visitor use, since 89 % of mainland Australia, above- normal fire potential have existed all fires are human caused. With global weather changes the in recent times, these conditions persist in eastern parts of definition of a “normal” fire season is likely to change. Table 8 will Tasmania. Fire potential depends on multiple factors; the stage show the breakdown of fire by month, but will require further is often set by the antecedent rainfall, which factors in with the analysis by decades to determine whether any major shifts are amount of fuel availability and time of grass curing. occurring with global change. The fire season in the Northern Region of Tasmania extends from August to April; this extended period usually falls along the east coastal region due to moisture deficit conditions. Major fire events usually occur when the Fire Danger Index (FDI) exceeds 25, at or above this value in which fire behaviour normally precludes successful suppression capabilities. Table 7 indicates historically daily records when reporting weather stations exceeded critical FDI values.

Table 6: Fire Danger Index Exceeds – Very High and Extreme /Decade

Weather Station No. of Days Exceed FDI 25 No. of Days exceed FDI 50 90 Percentile FDI

Number Station <2000 2000–08 <2000 2000–08 2000–08

92038 Swansea (96-99) 5 21 (96-99) 0 5 12

92114 Friendly Bch (97-99) 2 9 (97-99) 0 1 11

92012 Fingal (94-99) 11 31 (94-99) 0 1 15

92003 Bicheno (98-99) 0 4 (98-99) 0 0 6

91219 Scottsdale (94-99) 2 2 (94-99) 0 0 11

91126 Devonport (93-99) 2 10 (93-99) 0 0 12

93053 Ross (96-99) 15 62 (96-99) 1 2 20

91306 Cressy (99) 2 27 (99) 0 0 17

91104 Launceston (93-99) 19 20 (93-99) 0 17

94201 Mowbray (99) 5 74 (99) 0 8 21

96033 Liawenee n/a 13 n/a 0 11

95018 Tarraleah (94-99) 1 2 (94-99) 0 0 10

99005 Flinders (94-99) 10 4 (94-99) 0 2 10

92120 St Helens n/a 4 n/a 0 9

92019 Lake Leake (99) 0 1 (99) 0 0 8

92027 Orford (99) 0 3 (99) 0 0 7

(Based on 15:00 Actual Weather readings)

12 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Table 7: Fire Occurrence by Cause/ Month by Decade in the Northern Region 1966–2008

Not Wildfire Planned 1966–2008 Arson Lightning Unknown Residence Other Escape Accident Identified Spot Burn

January 30 3 11 6 10 4 2

February 27 1 7 6 5 2 3

March 15 6 3 4

April 9 3 1 1

May 5 1 2 1

June 1 1

July 4 1

August 10 1 4 1

September 19 4 1 5 7 1 1 1

October 28 7 2 11 3 3 2

November 24 2 11 1 9 14 1 1 1

December 32 8 7 10 5 5 1

No date 1 1

Total 204 6 59 2 45 65 17 17 1 4

Not Wildfire Planned 1970–79 Arson Lightning Unknown Residence Other Escape Accident Identified Spot Burn January 2 1 1 1 February 3 1 3 March 1 April May 1 June July August September October 1 November 1 1 December 2 1 1 1 Total 8 5 2 6 1

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 13 Not Wildfire Planned 1980–89 Arson Lightning Unknown Residence Other Escape Accident Identified Spot Burn January 5 1 2 February 9 1 March 4 1 1 April 1 1 May June July August September 1 1

October 5 1 1

November 4 2 3 December 3 3 1 1 Total 28 11 1 4 8

Not Wildfire Planned 1990–99 Arson Lightning Unknown Residence Other Escape Accident Identified Spot Burn January 12 1 6 4 5 2 1 February 7 5 2 2 1 1 March 7 3 2 1 April 2 May 2 June July 1 August 3 4 1 September 8 2 2 4 1 October 11 3 2 4 1 3 2 November 10 5 1 6 3 1 December 12 2 1 5 5 3 1 Total 74 1 26 1 24 24 11 8 1 3

Not Wildfire Planned 2000–08 Arson Lightning Unknown Residence Other Escape Accident Identified Spot Burn January 11 2 4 1 2 1 1 February 8 1 4 1 2 March 4 1 1 2 April 6 2 1 1 May 3 2 1 June 1 1 July 4 August 7 1 September 10 2 3 3 1 1 October 12 2 6 2 November 13 2 2 1 7 1 1 December 15 2 4 3 2

1 no 1 no date date

Total 94 5 17 15 27 5 9 1

14 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 � 2.6 Values at Risk 2.7 Fuel Groups Values are defined as objects or locations that hold a relative Within the reserve system in Tasmania there exists a variety economic, social or environmental worth. Spatial data, for of vegetation communities. The intent of the management analysis in a geographic information system (GIS), were objectives of these landscapes often precludes the modification collected state wide from a variety of sources to attempt of the communities and is usually designed to conserve and to develop a comprehensive collection of “values”. The protect. This type of conservation strategy usually leads over objects collected were then classified into three categories: time to an accumulation of forest fuels which if ignited under Constructed; Forest/Agriculture; and Natural values. Impacts high fire weather danger days can lead to the rapid growth of from wildfires were based on fire passage not impacts that fire and potential damage to values. might occur due to fire suppression activities. The existing vegetation in Tasmania is inventoried through TASVEG Version 1.0. The underlying attributes were interpreted 2.6.1 Constructed as “Flammability Classes” (Pyrke and Marsden-Smedley, 2005) and “Fuel Groups” which were used in this project to assist The items in this classification are values that have been built or in the analysis of fire behaviour in Tasmanian vegetation constructed by humans, including both historical structures and communities. modern. Inputs into this classification have been broken down into the following three sub groups; (see Appendix Map 1). Flammability classes were assigned to 5 categories from Extreme to Low (see Appendix Map 4) with Fuel Grouping Life: spatial locations that have a high probability of temporary broken up into 13 broad types based on fuel structure (see visitor use. Appendix Map 5 and Table 9). Wildland Urban Interface: locations of single, multiple and high density populations. Table 8: Fuel Groups/ TASVEG type Critical Infrastructure: locations of facilities that if temporarily disrupted would cause extensive economic or social impact. Fuel Group TASVEG Types Covered Burnable Infrastructure: locations of facilities that if disrupted Dry Sclerophyll Forest, Dry Sclerophyll Fuel Group 1 would cause some economic or social impact but could be Woodlands replaced in a relatively short timeframe. Non-burnable: values which can not be negatively affected by Fuel Group 2 Buttongrass Moorland the passage of a wildfire. Heathland, Dry Scrub, Coastal Scrub, Swamp and Fuel Group 3a Wetland

2.6.2 Forest/Agriculture Fuel Group 3b Wet Scrub This is a relative economic value classification of managed forested land, research monitoring plots along with locations Fuel Group 4 Grassland, Native Grassland of vineyard production sites. Forest values were broken into 6 relative economic classes ranging from Class 0 to Class 5, Fuel Group 5 Radiata and Eucalypt Plantations with Class 5 being the highest value of commercial plantation, Wet Sclerophyll Woodlands – Forests, Mixed through to Class 0 which are areas that are presently not Fuel Group 6 managed for commercial economic return (see Appendix Map Forests 2). At this time data on other agricultural values are not readily available in spatial format. Examples of other values which could Fuel Group 7 Gorse, Flammable Weeds be captured are stone fruit production, apiary operations and high value grazing locations Fuel Group 8 Rainforest

Fuel Group 9 Slash 2.6.3 Natural Fuel Group 10 Shelterwood Coupes The items in this classification are specific flora, fauna or geo-conservation point and or polygon locations which have Alpine, Subalpine with conifers and deciduous Fuel Group 11 been identified that require special protection from impacts beech of wildfires. Flora and Fauna were categorized relative to their individual restricted range and vulnerability to the impacts from Fuel Group 12 Alpine, Subalpine sedgy and grassy wildfires. Geo-conservation areas were categorized by their Alpine, Subalpine with-out conifers and deciduous sensitivity to impacts from wildfires (see Appendix Map 3). Fuel Group 13 beech Data on Aboriginal cultural values is not presently available for this project.

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 15 3.3 Bushfire Risk Analysis 3. Bushfire Risk To determine overall risk we attempted to follow guidelines which are outlined in the NERAG (National Emergency Risk Assessment Assessment Guidelines August 2009) document (see Appendix 3). The level of risk is determined by combining consequences and 3.1 Bushfire Risk Assessment Process likelihood (see Table 10). Both the Ellis and Rawson reports recommend the development of a risk assessment to help PWS focus on a Table 9: Qualitative Risk Matrix strategic direction in regard to fire risk mitigation. International literature research was undertaken to review what Consequence (Values at Risk) existing computer models were presently being utilized. Models from the following locations were reviewed: New Zealand, 1 2 3 4 5 Western Australia, Canberra, South Africa, Greece, United States, British Columbia, and Alberta. 5 High High Extreme Extreme Extreme

Ideas and processes were used and enhanced to come up with 4 Mod High High Extreme Extreme the model which was required and developed for Tasmania. The processes helped evaluate four key input components 3 Low Mod High Extreme Extreme to the model which help identify challenges or shortfalls with the existing management direction. The model is built in a 2 Low Low Mod High Extreme geographic information system utilising various spatial data, fire behaviour equations and climate records from many sources. Likelihood 1 Low Low Mod High High The Bushfire Risk Assessment Model (BRAM) is the result. Likelihood is defined as a qualitative method to assess the likelihood rating to the consequences occurring. The likelihood of 3.2 Regional BRAM Outputs an event (see Appendix Map 10) was generated by the average combinations of the output generated from the following: Ignition 3.2.1 Ignition Potential Potential, Suppression Capabilities and Fire Behaviour Potential, followed by assigning these output values to categories in a — which is defined as historical ignition records or natural likelihood matrix. occurrences which could lead to a risk of ignition (see Appendix Map 6). A variety of input data was used to Consequences are defined as a qualitative consequence rating determine the final ignition potential output used (see Appendix to the consequence occurring. The consequences (see Appendix 2A: Ignition Potential Flow Diagram). Map 11) was taken directly from the output generated through the Values at Risk spatial layer output. A representation of risk (see Appendix Map 12) is developed when you combine 3.2.2 Suppression Capabilities the factors of likelihood and consequence . The output map — which is defined as areas within the state where occurrences generated of risk shows qualitative areas of risk, not areas of can be detected and actioned within existing fire management perceived risk. Thus, the model assists in objectively defining areas procedures (see Appendix Map 7). A variety of input data was where genuine risk is present. In-depth analysis will indicate what used to determine the final suppression capabilities output used factor is the major contributing cause of the risk. (see Appendix 2B: Suppression Capabilities Flow Diagram). It must be noted that the BRAM and therefore the consequences, likelihood and risk outputs are based on available data. While the maps are presented as complete maps of 3.2.3 Values at Risk Tasmania, there are significant gaps in the data outside of areas of — which is defined as any item or area that has either an reserved land managed by PWS. For example, the mapped fire economic, social or environmental worth (see Appendix Map history which contributes to the Ignition Potential and therefore 8). A variety of input data (see page 14) was used to determine Likelihood layers is not complete on private land (ie outside of the final values at risk output used (see Appendix 2C: Values at reserved land and State Forest) and high value agriculture land(ie Risk Flow Diagram). stone fruit) that contribute to Values at Risk and therefore the Consequence layer. 3.2.4 Fire Behaviour Potential It is anticipated that an updated BRAM will be available — which is defined as factors that would effect the by December 2009 and will provide a better basis for development and propagation of a fire (see Appendix Map 9). implementation of the strategies of this plan. A variety of input data was used to determine the final fire An analysis occurred on individual reserves parcels which behaviour potential output used (see Appendix 2B: Fire Behaviour identified specific locations of risk by type and an overall Potential Flow Diagram). summary breakdown for the entire reserve (see Table 11). This information provides some guidance in what percentage of the reserve is under a specific risk category. 16 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Table 10: Major Reserve BRAM Risk Summary

Risk(Percentage) Name Low Moderate High Extreme

Freycinet National Park (see 33 41 24 <1 Appendix Map 13)

General Analysis indicates Ignition Potential – extreme(high density of starts), Suppression Capability – slow(outside normal conventional fire fighting forces reach)

Narawntapu National Park /Briggs RR (see Appendix 53 34 13 <1 Map 14)

General Analysis indicates Ignition Potential – extreme(high density of starts), Fire Behaviour Potential – high ( fuel type and high load)

Mount William National Park 23 35 41 1 (see Appendix Map 15)

General Analysis indicates Ignition Potential - extreme(high density of starts), Suppression Capability – poor to slow(outside normal conventional fire fighting forces reach)

Ben Lomond National Park 5 19 75 <1 (see Appendix Map 16)

General Analysis indicates Ignition Potential – extreme(high density of starts), Suppression Capability – poor to slow(outside normal conventional fire fighting forces reach)

Trevallyn Nature Recreation 0 8 85 7 Area (see Appendix Map 17)

General Analysis indicates Ignition Potential – extreme(high density of starts), Fire Behaviour Potential – mod, Values – very high(mixed number of constructed assets)

Port Sorell Conservation 23 60 17 0 Area (see Appendix Map 18)

General Analysis indicates Consequences – moderate (located near critical Infrastructure)

Cradle Mountain/Lake St Clair National Park (see 2 37 60 1 Appendix Map 19)

General Analysis indicates Ignition Potential – extreme(high density of starts), Suppression Capability – slow(outside normal conventional fire fighting forces reach)

Central Plateau Conservation Area (see 4 54 42 0 Appendix Map 20)

General Analysis indicates Ignition Potential – high to very high(moderate density of starts), Suppression Capability – poor to slow(outside normal conventional fire fighting forces reach)

Walls Of Jerusalem National 7 71 22 0 Park (see Appendix Map 21)

General Analysis indicates Fire Behaviour Potential – moderate, Suppression Capability –poor to slow(outside normal conventional fire fighting forces reach)

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 17 The initial analysis indicates that a large number of the Parks and When reviewing these factors the coastal areas appear not to Wildlife Service reserves are in fact not a risk and contribute very have an increased bushfire risk compared to the other reserves little to the risk in surrounding areas. managed by PWS. An appropriate management strategy would be to target specific reserves that are under high risk due to Formal regional working groups should be developed with the increase ignition potential through prevention methods. three fire agencies represented and local area stakeholders to do an in-depth review of the outputs generated by the model to determine the contributing factor(s) of areas at risk. Through Table 11: Incidents within Coastal Reserves community engagement, education can be focused on developing 1966–2007 a better understanding of the areas of genuine qualitative risk, not on areas of perceived risk. Fires within Total Number Reserve Name 250m of of Fires Further analysis will occur for areas within reserves identified Coastline as high or extreme risk to determine if the risk is intolerable, tolerable or acceptable. Mitigation strategies will presently be Freycinet National 12 5 focused on areas of highest risk due to budget constraints. Park

The BRAM maps at the end of this plan are indicative – it is Coles Bay 7 2 intended that detailed analyses will utilise GIS and the GIS model. Conservation Area The focus for mitigation strategies will be three main fronts: Unnamed Public 2 2 1. Prevention to reduction of the number of wildfires occurring Reserve

2. Pro-active response instead of a reactive response to Denison Rivulet 1 1 minimize the negative impacts which could be caused by Conservation Area wildfires Seymour 1 1 3. The correct response requirements once a wildfire is Conservation Area detected to minimize the extent of the impact. Lagoons Beach 1 1 Conservation Area Coastal Reserve Analysis Scamander There has been a perception that coastal reserved land tenure 17 16 Conservation Area poses an elevated wildfire risk and requires immediate mitigation treatments. A review of the data provided for the development St Helens 10 0 of the BRAM model indicated that only 11% of the fires initiated Conservation Area within 250 meters from the coastline within the study period. This data shows a non elevated ignition potential. Parnella 3 3 Conservation Area The fuel group in these areas is predominantly Type 3a - Heathland, Dry Scrub and or Coastal Shrub. The propagation of a Humbug Point fire includes an initial acceleration and build up phase. A minimum Nature Recreation 15 9 forward spread distance from the ignition source and head fire Area width (usually greater than 100 m) is required before a fire can achieve its maximum equilibrium rate of spread usually. Narrow Bay of Fires 9 2 coastal reserves offer limited forward areas of uninterrupted Mt William National fuel sources for fires; this is due to the fact that wind direction is 19 1 park normally on or off shore which is perpendicular to the available fuel supply. Fires that are ignited within these areas usually have Musselroe Bay 2 2 just begun the acceleration stage in development when they run Conservation Area into roadside verges and road surface areas which act as a natural fire break. Thus, these fires usually lack sufficient intensity to cause Waterhouse 9 1 problems for suppression resources. The risk to neighbouring Conservation Area houses is therefore generally not high. Granite Point 6 0 Research done on open fuel type’s show that firebreaks of 7 Conservation Area to 15 meters is sufficient to stop head fires with winds under Narawntapu National 20 km/hr (Alexander and Fogarty, 2002). Table 12 indicates the 3 1 breakdown of bushfire incidents within coastal reserved land, Park these reserves make up 13% of the total area managed by the Pardoe Northdown 1 0 region. Conservation Area

18 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Arson still accounts for 49% of fire occurrence, thus areas with 4. Fire Prevention a high incidence of suspicious ignitions should be monitored closely by random patrols, particularly at times of severe fire weather. 4.1 Context The PWS should develop a close working relationship with Prevention controls are designed to prevent the occurrence of investigators from the Tasmania Police and Tasmania Fire a wildfire and or facilitate easier control. Service with case files being developed and logged for all fires of suspicious origin. All efforts should be made to assist in the apprehension of these individuals. 4.2 Objective A significant percentage of the fires have been caused by In fire prevention the focus is to reduce the likelihood of escapes from adjacent landowners. Existing 2008 incident incidents occurring through the initiation of or changes to; statistics from the Tasmania Fire Service indicate a drop in Education, Enforcement or Engineering programs. vegetation fire response of 30 percent in the Southern Region Fire ignition occurs by two factor types; natural (lightning), and an overall trend reduction once the permit season was human caused. initiated. These data seem to indicate that either individuals The Education program will focus on human-cause bushfires. show more duty of care when permits are required or site When analysis occurred it was determined that the cause inspections from the permit officers are disallowing unsafe breakdown in the Northern Region is as the follows: burning practices. Discussion should be initiated with Tasmania Fire Service to encourage the development of a standard Escape 16% occurrences, being 46 % area burned permit season policy as statistics clearly support a reduction Other 11 % occurrences, being 5 % area burned of vegetation fires incidents occur once the declared permit Arson 49% occurrences, being 24 % area burned period is in place. Engineering Program will be focused on all infrastructure 4.3 Strategies and Actions located within the reserve system both PWS and privately owned. Education program should target industrial and agricultural neighbours which account for 27 % of all the fires which are Specific values can be safeguarded through engineering occurring in the reserves. A community awareness package methods. Reserves which continue to allow the use of open should be developed and delivered. Through individual meetings fires should install properly engineered fire rings and enforce and workshops the messages can be given and adjusted by their use only or evaluate the social impact of initiating a regional user group trends. total open fire ban. Infrastructure should be designed as per Australian Standards AS3959-1999. The fire management awareness component of the existing Discovery Ranger program should be upgraded, as only Developed sites should be designed in accordance to Tasmania through education can we enact change on culture. A new Fire Service document “Guidelines for Development in fire awareness kit should be developed and presented to Bushfire Prone Areas in Tasmania”. Existing PWS structures the Discovery Ranger staff so knowledge transfer from fire which do not reach the standards should be tracked through management staff can be initiated. Fire Management staff the Information Management System with the scheduled will accompany Discovery Rangers in their rove activities so maintenance to convert facilities to standards when possible that the fire management message can be passed on to the (see Figure 9). All sites should be assessed on whether they are recreational public. Additional support should be provided presently defendable, so pre-incident triage can occur enabling to the Discovery Ranger program off season so that the the most effective use of the limited suppression resources of awareness message can be provided to both school and the PWS in line with State Fire Commission Policy Statement youth groups through presentations. All existing departmental 1/07(see Appendix 4). Visitors to sites deemed un-defendable pamphlets should include fire awareness and fire management may be protected by the development of an effective information to the general public and provide additional contact Emergency Response Plan with pre-identified escape routes leads for interested individuals or groups. and safety zones. Enforcement program should be developed and directed toward malice and irresponsible individuals or companies that show disregard to the legislation and the damage that they cause by bushfires. A process should be developed to investigate all human-caused fire and if negligent found then charges should be laid under the existing legislation. Options will be investigated to review existing legislation to allow the department to recover fire suppression costs.

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 19 Figure 9: Freycinet Visitor Centre Fire Trail Guidelines Through-out the reserve system lie a network of fire trails which should be maintained using the standards specified in the PWS document called Fire Management Infrastructure Categories and Standards as a guide. Each reserve fire trail system has been assessed to determine which ones are strategically required and maintained to the required standard; all others not required should be decommissioned and stabilized or reassigned for another purpose (see Figure 12). Table 13 identifies Strategic fire trails that are to be retained in the Northern Region. To be of strategic value; fire trails should be located in the following situations: 1. adjacent to the assets which they require to protect 2. to lead to strategic water sources 3. to break up large tracts of contiguous flammable vegetation and fuels 4. to facilitate access and egress from reserves Private infrastructure or companies operating through the 5. to provide boundaries for prescribed burning blocks existing lease and license program should be externally audited to determine the level of wildfire risk to their operations and assets (see Appendix 5). Conditions could be applied through All built up fuel loads within the perimeter of the asset the lease or license renewal program through Section 48 of protection zone (see below) must be identified and dealt the National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002. This with or the integrity of protection will be in question. Fire legislation will provide a framework to allow the department trails which are located on multi-jurisdictional land tenure (eg to apply fire management operating conditions to individual unallocated Crown Land or local government land) should be or companies that operate within the reserves. If due to identified and formal memorandums of understanding should design or site location compliance is not economic, socially be developed with clear direction and authority identifying or environmentally possible, individual site fire control plans responsibilities (see Appendix Map 22). Fire trail access should should be initiated to help mitigate the risk of loss. Where ever be controlled through gating and locked with a single standard possible all new sites should conform to the above referenced regional key with key controlled and coordinated through the documents. Regional Fire Management Officer.

Fire Behaviour Potential Figure 12: Bradley Trail Class 5 Fuel is the only component of a fire environment that can be altered to reduce the probability of occurrence of intense wildfires (McArthur 1962). For reserves where they exist, the statutory management plans provide some direction as to which mitigation strategies are acceptable. The PWS will use the “Fire Management Zone” framework (see below) which is aligned with the draft “General Management Plan ­– Southern Region” (soon to be released internally) to help guide what the site specific strategy process will be.

20 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Table 12: Strategic Fire Trails

Reserve Name Trail Name Class Type ID #

Campground Class 5 23

Wentworth Hill Class 5 26

Narawntapu/Briggs Dazzler Fire Trail Class 5 25

Dazzler-Link Briggs Class 5 24

Point Vision Class 5

Little Boggy Creek West Class 3 18

Ratty Track Class 3 17

Big Boggy Track Class 5 16

Bayley Hill Fire Trail Class 5 22 Mount William West Boundary Fire Trail Class 5 19

North Boundary Fire Trail Class 3 20

Anson Bay Protection Class 5 21

Tucker Fire Trail upgrade to Class 5 15

Ragged Jack Track assess upgrade to Class 5 37 Ben Lomond SW Rossarden assess upgrade to Class 5 35

Cradle Mountain Payton Road assess upgrade to Class 5 34

Central Plateau Pillans Track assess upgrade to Class 5 32

Westane Extension assess upgrade to Class 5 33

Organ Hill Fire Trail Class 5 7

Eastern Fire Trail Class 5 9

Aspley Causeway Class 3 – water access 8

Aspley Link Class 5 10

Douglas Aspley South Aspley Class 5 11

Penny Fathers Class 5 – water access 12

West Douglas Class 5 14

Tin Mine Class 3 6

E-MG Link assess upgrade to Class 5 13

Courland Bay Rd Class 5 – MOU council 4

Tar Hill Class 3 5

Freycinet Nevilles Track Class 5 1

Bradley Trail Class 5 3

Ranger Creek Class 3 2

Mt Cameron Mt Cameron Fire Trail Class 5 extension 36

Upper Gorge Class 5 29

Archery Fire Trail Class 5 27 Trevallyn Read Gully Class 5 30

Workshop Fire Trail Class 5 28

Walls of Jerusalem none

Port Sorell none

Humbug Point Humbug Class 5 31

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 21 Fire Management Zones General Location – areas generally adjacent or upwind The development of Fire Management Zone protocols will assist from locations of high significant values in Asset Zones in providing operational direction for dealing with wildfires occurring within landscape areas along with providing direction Level 1 <50 m wide identifying where further assessment for mitigation strategies. Zoning protocols along with all is required to determine mitigation actions strategies will be re-assessed on an on-going basis to determine Level 2 < 1 kilometre wide identifying where further whether objectives are being achieved or require modifications. assessment is required to determine mitigation actions The aim is to designate all reserved land into one of the four categories of Fire Management Zone. Some reserves may have Mitigation Actions – treated areas will be variable in size one or more areas designated to one or more of the zone and shape dependent on the type of value that requires categories. The four zone categories and protocols associated protecting and spatial characteristics of the site which with each are described below. Appendix Map 23 indicates is available to be modified. Treatments may include the zones at a very general scale – for detailed examination mechanical fuel modification (e.g. slashing), fuel reduction and analysis of the zones it is necessary to utilise a geographic burning, evacuation or engineering (e.g. a sprinkler information system on computer which enables zooming in to a system). Not all parts of all Asset Protection Zones suitable scale (only PWS tenure displayed). It also highlights the will be treated – the zones are intended to help guide impact of adjacent neighbouring assets have on our reserves treatment options, priorities and location. Consideration system (e.g. narrow reserves which have no inventoried values must be made for natural and human made features may show up as a APZ1 due to adjacent asset) The Strategic when defining the treatment boundaries such as fuel Fuel Management Zone is developed using the inventory of type/load, slope, hydrology and access trails. Conservation TASVEG on all tenure (only PWS tenure displayed). values within Asset Protection Zones must be considered • An asset for the purpose of the zoning methodology is and protected as far as possible in the design of defined as a feature either human made or natural of treatments. significant value in which a fire would have a negative impact, or in the case of some natural assets, fire exclusion Suppression Guidelines – use of a full range of pre- may also have a negative impact suppression and suppression tactics unless prohibited by a management plan Asset Zone Strategic Fuel Management Zone Primary Purpose – geographic location of asset(s) of high value or importance Primary Purpose – area of management that will increase General Location – the physical boundary of the asset the likelihood of controlling a wildfire within or the forward spread through the area, along with minimizing General Characteristics – area involved could be variable the potential for a bushfire to achieve a size greater than in size dependant on value in question (e.g. hut or 5,000 hectares. threatened flora and fauna polygon) General Location – areas will be located strategically in fuel Suppression Guidelines – use of a full range of pre- types of high or greater flammability (see Forest Fuels); suppression and suppression tactics unless prohibited by size greater than 5,000 hectares; taking into consideration a management plan. natural and man-made attributes to provide anchor points.

General Characteristics – fuel will be managed by Asset Protection Zone prescribed burning of areas of suitable vegetation of sufficient size and continuity to act as a barrier to fire Primary Purpose – area of high strategic importance to spread by reducing rate of spread, intensity, spotting protect values in Asset Zones, wildfires will be managed under 90th percentile (see Table 7) of fire weather on a priority basis to confine spread and extinguish by methods and resources available. The aim will be, however, to maintain appropriate fire regimes as far as possible throughout as much of the vegetation as possible.

Suppression Guidelines – use of a full range of pre- suppression and suppression tactics unless prohibited by a management plan.

22 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Land Management Zone Methodology for the Identification of Regional Priority Areas within Asset Primary Purpose – fire management in the zone is to Protection Zones maintain appropriate fire regimes for the landscape This section describes the methodology that needs to be vegetation communities, species diversity and cultural followed to translate the fire management zones and strategies heritage. described above into plans for operations that will be implemented within the region. General Location – areas remote from significant visitor use and assets that are damaged by fire. The Northern Region will be sub-divided into workable management units, for example, either by Parks and Reserve General Characteristics – vegetation burning will be Manager jurisdictional areas or by Local Government Council managed in such a fashion to provide a mosaic of post-fire boundaries. Within the defined area all reserves will be ages which falls within the range of ecological requirements examined utilising the methodology listed below. The summary of the flora and fauna present. Specific fire regimes can outcome will be a list and maps of priority blocks by method of be managed for single species management (e.g. Orange- treatment. Bellied Parrot). Step 1: overlay the extreme and high risk outputs from the BRAM model against the layer developed for Asset Protection Suppression Guidelines – use of suppression tactics of Zones (APZs) ( see Appendix Map 24 – Northern Region Fire minimal intervention only to maintain appropriate fire Mitigation Priorites), along with Threaten Flora priority areas. regime or to ensure a fire location stays within the zone. APZs adjacent to Asset Zones from built up areas will be a priority. Step 2: assess the common area identified and then Planned Fire Strategy determine what management option is acceptable: mechanical fuel reduction (e.g. slashing), prescribed fire, engineering, or The application of planned fire is used for vegetation evacuation management; habitat management and value protection (i.e. fuel reduction or modification). Planned fire is also used as a means Step 3: overlay existing approved plans for planned burning to restore fire disturbance patterns on the landscape by the and mechanical fuel reduction (e.g. fire management plans, fire introduction of controlled burns that closely mimic the natural management strategies and burn programs approved through range of fire variation in the area. With a coordinated approach, the RAA process or equivalent) against the common area a prioritization hierarchy can be developed so that multiple land identified in Step 2 management objectives can be achieved in a single burn. Step 4: the areas not covered off by the existing approved Planned burning will be undertaken primarily in Asset plans should then be assessed for treatment options Protection Zones and Strategic Fuel Management Zones, with Step 5: site specific treatments will then be developed for priority given to areas where the risk to values is the highest, the areas (i.e. engineering, evacuation planning, planned burns), as identified by the BRAM. Planned burning may also be including consideration and utilisation of existing features for undertaken in all zones when and where there is an identified unit boundaries i.e trails, topography, fuel load and type. The fire need for species or communities that require fire. Table 14 sensitivity and suitability of the vegetation type for prescribed identifies areas of priority for ecological management, these burning must be considered. sites require the introduction of fire to maintain population diversity and richness; once areas can identified for fauna Step 6: prepare a map, or maps, at an appropriate scale of the purposes they will be added, however, at this time that ‘defining’ treatments within the designated management unit information is not available. Step 7: the proposed plan will be assessed through the annual • Not all of the native vegetation within Asset Protection planned burning RAA or annual fire management works RAA. Zones, Strategic Fuel Management Zones and Land In areas within APZs where the above assessment has identified Management Zones is amenable to planned burning. For that fuel modification is required, hazards and fuel loads example, most of the Asset Protection Zone identified within the zone will be mitigated to a level to enable wildfire by Map 23 on the central plateau is Eucalyptus coccifera containment under 90th percentile of fire weather (see Table 7) forest and woodland or Eastern alpine heathland. Planned by methods and resources available. burning would not be appropriate in these vegetation types because of the very long fire intervals required to Within Level 1 APZs, modification of fuel arrangements will maintain biodiversity and vegetation structure. be intended to allow for the safe deployment of suppression resources within the zone to defend the asset value, or • As a general principle, only those vegetation communities modified in such a fashion that would increased success rate identified by Pyrke and Marsden-Smedley (2005) as having for suppression action if not pre-deployed. Fuel Hazard Levels a low fire sensitivity are suitable for planned burning, should be maintained at low (“Overall Fuel Hazard Guide for South including: buttongrass moorland; dry sclerophyll forest and Australia”). woodland; dry scrub; coastal scrub; heathland and native grassland. Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 23 Witin Level 2 APZs, modification of fuel loads is intended to facilitate increased success rate for suppression action. Fuel Hazard Levels should be maintained at or below moderate (“Overall Fuel Hazard Guide for South Australia”). Based on the draft data available, Appendix Map 24 has identified the initial areas in Step 2 to be re-evaluated for mitigation priorities. Existing approved plans along with Threaten Flora priority areas will be evaluated against the outputs generated by this process for verification on prioritisation for mitigation areas. The process will be redefined as the model goes through its improvement stages.

Table 13: Threaten Flora Priority Areas

Season of Location Target Species Priority Application

Mt Vision Track Thelymitra antennifera, Phylloglossum drummondii Summer or autumn 1

Dukes Marsh Boronia hippopala Summer or autumn 1

Black Marsh Euphrasia scabra, Boronia hippopala Summer or autumn 1

Blindburn Creek Stonesiella selaginoides, Epacris grandis Summer or autumn 1

Waterhouse Point CA Prasophyllum secutum Summer or autumn 1

Waterhouse Point CA Prasophyllum secutum Summer or autumn 1

Waterhouse Point CA Prasophyllum secutum Summer or autumn 1

Granite Point CA Thelymitra antennifera, Prasophyllum apoxychilum Summer or autumn 1

Albert Marsh (north) Boronia hippopala Summer or autumn 2

Albert Marsh Boronia hippopala Summer or autumn 2

Horseshoe Marsh Boronia hippopala Summer or autumn 2

Hardings Falls (north) Stonesiella selaginoides, Epacris grandis Summer or autumn 2

Hockeys Marsh Euphrasia scabra Summer or autumn 2

Narawntapu NP Thelymitra antennifera Summer or autumn 2

Mt William NP Thelymitra antennifera, Prasophyllum apoxychilum Summer or autumn 2

Mt William NP Thelymitra antennifera, Zieria veronicea Summer or autumn 2

Castle Cary RR Caladenia congesta Summer or autumn 2

Cooks-Bryans Corner Thryptomene micrantha Summer or autumn 3

Douglas Apsley NP Caladenia congesta Summer or autumn 3

24 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Whenever and wherever possible fire fighting resources should 5. Preparedness be placed in areas which exhibit” High to Extreme” risk as long as the existing and forecasted weather intelligence supports that decision. It should be noted that the BRAM is a decision 5.1 Context support tool and should be used in conjunction with staff Preparedness controls are designed to mitigate the “impact”. knowledge to make the best informed decision. Preparedness means all the activities that make organisations ready and better able to respond to wildfires. Additional computer support models can be developed as an enhancement to the BRAM to determine daily and forecasted bushfire risk. 5.2 Objective A program should be in place to have sufficient staff, resources 5.3 Strategies and Actions or processes in place to action incidents. The objective is to provide sufficient initial attack capability with Alert levels need to increase as the fire weather danger the aim of suppressing, within one burning period, any fire that increases. threatens values. When the Fire Danger Index is 18 or higher, The existing suppression system will be reviewed to determine any fire will be difficult to contain with initial attack unless whether any enhancement can be made to the program several crews are on the scene within 30 minutes. In some to improve suppression effectiveness. In the course of the situations the critical time period for the fire to escalate to development of the Suppression Capabilities layer of the uncontrollable size may be even shorter than 30 minutes. Bushfire Risk Assessment Model (BRAM), a comprehensive list Fire Danger Rating Index values triggers will be used to of factors were inputted and evaluated to determine where assist staff determine the level of readiness or positioning of the existing standard procedures provided adequate detection resources that are required (see Table 15). and suppression coverage state wide. Significantly, areas of no coverage or little coverage were also discovered and are viewable as a separate output layer of the model.

Table 14: Preparedness Matrix

ON DUTY Fire Danger Index Shift Times Actions/Resource Requirements Dispatch Times

Fire Season Regular hours < 60 minutes Fire equipment serviceable.

1 to 11 Low – Moderate Regular hours < 30 minutes Vehicle equipped with appropriate fire gear.

Regular start with possible All staff must carry PPE and remain contactable. 12 to 24 High evening extension based on < 15 minutes risk Assess the need for pre-positioning of fire crew.

Spotter flights required based on risk. Pre-position fire crew to area of concern. Loaded patrols by rotary wing and ground units. Activation of Incident Management Team will be 25 to 49 Very High Possible staggered shifts with 5 minutes considered. Fire Weather Warning evening extensions Trail and reserve closure will be implemented. Suspension of all hazardous activities which are occurring in reserves. Campfire restrictions implemented.

MAC group assess the availability of interstate support resources. 50 plus Severe, Extreme, Staggered shifts with evening Total closure of reserves and trails implemented. Catastrophic 5 minutes extensions Level 3 Incident Management Teams along with resources Fire Ban may be pre-positioned.

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 25 A Daily Fire Action Plan has been developed to assist PWS staff evaluate risk and determine whether threats are located 6. Fire Response adjacent to areas of high value. The plan will assist making appropriate adjustments or pre-placement of additional response units to as close geographically to the threat and 6.1 Context improve effectiveness (see Appendix 6: Daily Fire Action Plan). This Fire Response controls are designed to mitigate the “impact” “Pro Active” process will reduce the assembly and response once the incident occurs. time of resources to a fire location and therefore support increased containment success rate and decrease area and or value loss. 6.2 Objectives Fire suppression response process is the ability to send the A Fire Awareness Safety Briefing document (see Appendix 7: correct amount and type of resources to an incident for the Fire Awareness Safety Briefing form) will be part of this Daily predicted fire behaviour or value at risk. Fire Action Plan and will be used by fire management staff to provide summary fire behaviour information to staff and allow for some tactical and strategy development pre-incident. It will 6.3 Strategies and Actions be completed by the RFDO supported by a fire behaviour The goal of a successful program is arrive on scene when analysist and will be further developed for the 2010/11 fire the fire is in such a state and size that the available resources season. dispatched can control and contain within the first burning A detection plan will be developed to ensure that the period (before 10 am the following day). The Bushfire Risk appropriate detection agent’s are in place (e.g. Fire Towers, Assessment Model has attempted to collect a thorough Spotter Flights) and operating when the fire danger risk is database of all the constructed, forest/agriculture and natural forecast. A Fire Danger Index value of 24 and or forecasted values which are located within and or adjacent to our parks lightning event over areas will trigger the need for the initiation reserves. The “Values at Risk” layer will display the priorities of of spotter flights. The Bushfire Risk Assessment Model values which can be used to help identify high “value” areas. Detection Layer indicates where the existing detection gaps The department has existing policies and procedures to guide are located. The flight paths of spotter flights will be adjusted our fire response. Additional procedures will be developed as to ensure that gaps are covered between manned fire towers information and resources become available. coverage. Fire Danger Index value triggers are recommended to be in place to help assist staff on what the predicted fire behaviour in fuels will be and the type of suppression tactic which will Who to Strategy Appropriate Level of Action be successful. Note increased fuel loads in conjunction with Action high SDI values drastically increase fire behaviour. The below information (see Table 16, 17, 18, 19) will be used as a guide Develop a standard Daily Fire to assist staff in determining the correct type and amount of Planning Fire Action Plan along with a Management resources to dispatch to a fire at a given Fire Danger Index. standard level of fire cover Section

Detection Develop a detection plan Region

Planning Develop a fire action plan Region

Develop a process to assess Resourcing Region annual resource allocation

Develop and activate the Fire Resourcing appropriate fire rosters when Management required Section

Ensure staffs are trained and competent to meet Fire departmental requirements Training Management through standardization Section of training packages and certification processes.

26 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Table 15: Suppression Strategies Dry Sclerophyll (fuel load@15 tonnes/ha)

Head Fire Intensities Rate of Spread Head Fire Flame Fire Danger Index Strategy/Tactic (Kw/m) (Km/hr) Height (m)

Direct Attack < 5 < 675 .09 2.0 Hand Tools

Direct Attack 5 – 12 675 - 1589 .26 5.0 Hand Tools

1589 - 3105 Anchor-Flank 12 – 24 .40 8. Tankers/Aircraft

Indirect 24 – 50 3105 - 7650 .85 14 Tankers/ Aircraft

Indirect 50 - 100 7650 – 12,600 1.6 Crown Burn-out

Indirect 100 + >12,600 Crown Aerial Ignition

Table 16: Suppression Strategies Moorland Buttongrass (fuel load@10 tonnes/ha; 10 year old, medium productivity site)

Moorland Fire Danger Head Fire Intensities Head Fire Flame Rate of Spread (Km/hr) Strategy/Tactic Index (Kw/m) Height (m)

Direct Attack <3 <900 .30 2.0 Hand Tools

Anchor–Flank 7 900 – 1800 .60 3.0 Hand Tools

Indirect 14 1800 – 3600 1.20 5.0 Tankers/ Aircraft

Indirect 30 3600 – 7200 2.40 7.5 Aircraft

Indirect 50 7200 – 10,800 3.60 10.0 Burn–out

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 27 Table 17: Typical Rate of Spread for BRAM Fuel Group 1 and 2, Time to 1.0 ha. and size at 1 hour response( after fire has established100m flame front)

TYPICAL FIRE BEHAVIOUR Fire Danger FUEL TYPE Index (Based on fire having already accelerated and established an 100m flame front) (fuel load FROS (m/min.) 15t/ha) TIME TO Size in 60 TYPICAL FIRE TYPE 1.0 ha. Minute Range Average

FDI < 5 Dry Sclero <1.5 <1.5 37.3 min 2.5 ha Ground Surface

MFDR 1 – 3 Moorland <4. 2.2 25.5 min 5.5 ha Surface

FDI 6 – 12 Dry Sclero 1.6 – 3.5 2.6 21.5 min 7.6 ha Surface

MFDR 4 – 5 Moorland 4.5 – 8 6.3 8.9 min 44.9 ha Running Surface

FDI 13 – 24 Dry Sclero 3.6 – 6.8 5.3 10.6 min 31.8 ha Vigorous Surface/Torching

MFDR 6 – 12 Moorland 8 – 17 12.5 4.5 min 176.6 ha Vigorous Surface/ Spotting

FDI 25 – 50 Dry Sclero 7.2 – 14.2 10.7 5.2 min 129.4ha Torching/Crown

MFDR 13 – 24 Moorland 18 – 34 26 2.2 min 764.1 ha Long Distance Spotting

FDI 51 – 100 Dry Sclero >14.2 14.2 4 min 228 ha Active Crown

MFDR 25 – 50 Moorland 35 – 70 52.5 1 min 3115.7 ha UnpredicTable

FDI > 101 Dry Sclero Active Crown

MFDR 51 – 100 Moorland > 70 > 70 UnpredicTable

NOTE: Table based on McArthur Mk5 (FDI) and Moorland Fire Danger Rating Models (MFDR). Drought Factor assumption 10

The Wildfire Management Decision Support Matrix developed to assist fire management staff to determine what along with the Fire Management Zone protocols was the appropriate tactic and strategy for the specific reserve locations. Table 18: Wildfire Management Decision Support Matrix

Zone Season/FDI Initial Attack Sustained Action

Asset All Ye s Ye s

Asset Protection All Ye s Yes(will assess if required if it occurs in a proposed burn block)

Fire Season : FDI High or > Yes – for the first Fire will be assessed on whether it will stay within confines of the zone or if it Strategic Fuel burning period occurs in a proposed burn block. If confirmed fire may be monitored or if in Management question indirect attack tactics may be utilized to maintain fire within zone. Outside season: FDI < High No

Yes – for the first Fire Season : FDI High or > Fire will be assessed on whether it will stay within confines of the zone, if burning period Land Management confirmed fire will be monitored. Indirect or direct suppression tactics will be employed if fire leaves zone. Outside season: FDI < High No

Strategy Appropriate Level of Action Who to Action

Action Once a fire is reported, dispatch the closest and appropriate number of resources, if available Regional Fire Duty Officer

Action Ensure that staff making the decision are competent at that level Manager Fire Operations

Ensure, within limits of overall resource constraints, that sufficient support resources are in place Action Regional Fire Duty Officer to back up initial attack or shifting requirements

Action Ensure decisions are made consistently Manager Fire Operations

28 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 7. Recovery – 8. Standards, Restoration Monitoring and

7.1 Context Reporting Once a bushfire has been controlled and extinguished there is a need to have a system in place to prevent the recurrent and 8.1 Context further degradation of the effected values. An adaptive management process is imperative to having a successful and positive fire management program. Establishment of standards, monitoring and reporting 7.2 Objective procedures will support, validate current and future program An effective, transparent and efficient management process to direction. restore the social, environmental and economic impact to a working and balanced state is required to be implemented as soon as is possible. 8.2 Objective To provide measurement standards to assess the effectiveness of the Strategic Fire Management Plan, subordinate 7.3 Strategies and Actions operational plans and to provide a means to collect data that can be used in submission to the AFAC -Landscape Fire Performance Measures and PWS Strategic Plan- Performance Indicators. Appropriate Level Strategy Who to Action of Action 8.3 Strategies and Actions Actively manage Critical Incident stress through incident Landscape Fire Performance Measures debriefing and support (Australasian Fire and Emergency Services mechanisms. Authorities Council) Critical Provide counselling Incident to staff when Manager Fire Provide “Phase 1” data for the national reporting by 2010; Management required through Operations “Phase 2” by 2011(see Appendix 8). the departmental “Employee Assistance Program”. Performance Indicators (Strategic Plan Conduct external 2008–2010 and internal all party debriefs. Provide annual reporting figures on the following a) percentage and area of land negatively impacted by wildfire Assess the need b) percentage and number of scheduled controlled burns for formal fire successfully completed c) percentage and number of staff Incident Controller rehabilitation plan trained and actively involved in fire suppression. during and after every fire. Annual statistics will be analysed, taking in consideration In the short term seasonal and yearly fluctuations, to determine whether the Fire perform burn area Fire Management program of the Strategic Plan is supporting Restoration stabilization and rehabilitation work a reduction of negative impact caused by bushfires (see to protect social, Appendix 9). economic and environment values. Fire Management Development of Operational Indicators Section – Planning/ rehabilitation guidelines, Policy Assurance policies in regards to Track and monitor annual wildfire statistics to determine ecological impacts whether implemented operational strategies are successful and make adjustments where required.

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 29 Reporting Consistent monitoring and reporting is crucial and required 9. Resource against identified performance indicators. A two tier reporting system will capture information at both strategic and Requirements PWS should ideally develop a transparent and consistent operational levels. The Fire Management Section is to report approach for the identification, prioritization of resource against set targets which are identified within the PWS Strategic allocations for the implementation of the Strategic Fire Plan and will develop additional targets in the Regional Strategic Management Plan. The existing approaches used to evaluate Fire Management Plans. Regional Fire Management Officers will resources required should not be discarded but should be report against individual targets set at the regional operational used as support with the Strategic direction. plans. Reporting will be used to track program achievements, performance and assist in decision making. A review of the Fire Management Program will occur on an annual basis, but major 9.1 Management of the Regional directional changes should not occur solely based on yearly statistical figures. A comprehensive review of the Strategic Strategic Fire Management Plan Fire Management Plan will occur every five years with annual The Fire Management Section, Parks and Wildlife Service assessments of operational plans to capture recent operational along with its regional representatives is responsible for and scientific developments. the implementation of the plan. The functions required to monitor the implementation demand human, technical and physical resources and will be required consistently for the life of the plan. The development of the Strategic Fire Management Plan version 1 aims to provide a workable document framework that can be adapted to the changing internal and external pressures. This collaboration from the PWS states its both legal and moral responsibilities and helps to identify its potential resource implications. It is clear that effective and efficient fire management strategies will require the sustained effort and resources of all fire management agencies within Tasmania.

9.2 Implementing the Strategic Fire Management Plan Specific aspects of the Strategic Fire Management Plan will generate demands on the PWS and specific individuals responsible from them. In some areas significant effort will be required to keep the strategic focus through the life of the plan. Requirements outlined in version 1 of the Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan will be reviewed, analysed and redefined with new data when available during the development of sequential versions therefore providing a living document.

30 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 10. Reference Documents

The following documents were used in the development of the • Gill, A. M., and Groves, R. H. (1981). Fire régimes in Northern Strategic Fire Management Plan. heathlands and their plant-ecological effects. In ‘Ecosystems of the World 9B. Heathlands and related shrublands’. (Ed R. • AS/NZS 4360:2004 Australian Standard Risk Management L. Specht.) pp. 61-84. (Elsevier: Amsterdam.) • Bushfire Risk Assessment Project Methodology • Gill, A. M., and Bradstock, R. A. (1992). A national register • Fire Management Infrastructure Categories and Standards for the fire responses of plant species. Cunninghamia 2, 653-660. • Guidelines for development in Bushfire Prone Areas in Tasmania ( TFS 1995) • Harris, S. (1991). Coastal vegetation. In ‘Tasmanian native bush: a management handbook.’. (Ed J. B. Kirkpatrick.) pp. • Landscape Fire Performance Measures ( Australasian Fire 128-147. (Tasmanian Environment Centre: Hobart.) and Emergency Services Authorities Council 2008) • Jones, D. (1988). ‘Native orchids of Australia.’ (Reed: Forest, • Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan Project NSW.) Plan • Keith, D. A., and Bradstock, R. A. (1994). Fire and • Parks and Wildlife Service Strategic Plan 2008-2010 competition in Australian heath: a conceptual model and • Alexander & Fogarty (2002) New Zealand Forest field investigations. Journal of Vegetation Science 5, 347-354. Research – Fire technology Transfer Note) • McArthur A.G (1962)Control Burning in Eucalypt Forests • Auld, T. D., and O’Connell, M. A. (1989). Changes in • Morrison, D. A., Cary, G. J., Pengelly, S. M., Ross, D. G., Mullins, predispersal seed predation levels after fire for two B. J., Thomas, C. R., and Anderson, T. S. (1995). Effects of Australian legumes, Acacia elongata and Sphaerolobium fire frequency on plant species composition of sandstone vimineum. Oikos 54, 55-9. communities in the Sydney region: Inter-fire interval and • Benson, D. H. (1985). Maturation periods for fire-sensitive time-since-fire. Australian Journal of Ecology 20, 239-247. shrub species in Hawkesbury Sandstone vegetation. • Pyrke, A. F., and Marsden-Smedley, J. B. (2005). Fire- Cunninghamia 1, 339-349. attributes categories, fire sensitivity, and flammability of • Bowman, D. M. J. S. (1998). Tansley Review No. 101. The Tasmanian vegetation communities. Tasforests 16, 35-46. impact of Aboriginal landscape burning on the Australian • Rawson, R. (2006). Review of Fire Management Risk biota. New Phytologist 140, 385-410. Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service • Bradstock, R. A., and Auld, T. D. (1995). Soil temperatures • Specht, R. L., and Specht, A. (1989). Species richness of during experimental bushfires in relation to fire sclerophyll (heathy) plant communities in Australia-the intensity: consequences for legume germination and fire influence of overstorey cover. Australian Journal of Botany management in south-eastern Australia. Journal of Applied 37, 337-350 Ecology 32, 76-84. • Tolhurst, K. (2000) Guidelines for Ecological Burning in • Bradstock, R. A., Keith, D. A., and Auld, T. D. (1995). Fire and Foothill Forest of Victoria conservation: imperatives and constraints on managing for diversity. In ‘Conserving biodiversity: threats and solutions.’. � (Eds R. A. Bradstock, T. D. Auld, D. A. Keith, R. T. Kingsford, D. Lunney, and D. P. Sivertson.) pp. 323-333. (Surrey Beatty and Sons: Chipping Norton.) • Cary, G. J., and Morrison, D. A. (1995). Effects of fire frequency on plant species composition of sandstone communities in the Sydney region: Combinations of inter- fire intervals. Australian Journal of Ecology 20, 418-426. • Ellis, S. (2005)The Operational Safety Audit of Fire Management within the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 31 Appendix 1: Northern Region Reserve Breakdown Great Lake Conservation Area 8627

Great Western Tiers Conservation Area 22870

Tenure Type – Conservation Area Gull Island Conservation Area 12

Name Area (ha) Jacksons Cove Conservation Area 158 Ansons Bay Conservation Area 101 Jones Rivulet Conservation Area 64 Apsley Conservation Area 456 Kelvedon Beach Conservation Area 30 Bay of Fires Conservation Area 3462 Lackrana Conservation Area 856 Bouchers Creek Conservation Area 127 Lagoons Beach Conservation Area 127 Briggs Islet Conservation Area 5 Liawenee Conservation Area 61 Brougham Sugarloaf Conservation Area 1221 Lime Pit Road Conservation Area 29 Cape Portland Conservation Area 202 Little Beach Conservation Area 68 Cat Island Conservation Area 49 Little Boobyalla River Conservation Area 489 Central Plateau Conservation Area 87240 Little Green Island Conservation Area 93 Chalky Island Conservation Area 56 Logan Lagoon Conservation Area 4861 Coles Bay Conservation Area 2441 Low Head Conservation Area 25 Coswell Beach Conservation Area 5 Low Point Conservation Area 220 Cressy Beach Conservation Area 6 Mayfield Bay Conservation Area 26 Dans Hill Conservation Area 713 Medeas Cove Conservation Area 83 Darling Range Conservation Area 5476 Mile Island Conservation Area 6 Denison Rivulet Conservation Area 100 Morass Bay Conservation Area 138 Double Sandy Point Conservation Area 711 Moss Gully Conservation Area 408 Egg Beach Conservation Area 15 Mount William Conservation Area 13 Five Mile Pinnacles Conservation Area 483 Mulligans Hill Conservation Area 1177 Foochow Conservation Area 1879 Musselroe Bay Conservation Area 1672 Foochow Conservation Area 4006 Night Island Conservation Area 14 Forsyth Island Conservation Area 189 Oyster Rocks Conservation Area 7 Four Mile Creek Conservation Area 86 Pardoe Northdown Conservation Area 177 George Town Conservation Area 126 Parnella Conservation Area 17 Goose Island Conservation Area 108 Patriarchs Conservation Area 4049 Granite Point Conservation Area 167 Port Sorell Conservation Area 87

32 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Rainbow Point Conservation Area 23 Unnamed 81

Redbill Point Conservation Area 33 Unnamed 75

Reef Island Conservation Area 6 Unnamed 0.062

Rocky Point Conservation Area 51 Unnamed 0.049

Scamander Conservation Area 473 Unnamed 0.265

Sensation Gorge Conservation Area 248 Unnamed 3036

Sensation Gorge Conservation Area 59 Unnamed 53

Seymour Conservation Area 114 Unnamed 22

Shag Lagoon Conservation Area 1008 Unnamed 61

Sister Islands Conservation Area 1376 Unnamed 43

Spiky Beach Conservation Area 6 Unnamed 67

St Helens Conservation Area 1119 Unnamed 2

Storehouse Island Conservation Area 27 Unnamed 27

Summer Camp Conservation Area 45 Unnamed 17

Swansea Conservation Area 12 Unnamed 17

Tamar Conservation Area 4660 Tenure Type – Game Reserve Tea-Tree Bay Conservation Area 28

The Dutchman Conservation Area 185 Name Area (ha)

The Steppes Conservation Area 59 Little Dog Island Game Reserve 92

Top Marshes Conservation Area 2727 Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve 4786

Waterhouse Conservation Area 6957 North East River Game Reserve 2552

Whalers Lookout Conservation Area 4 Sellars Lagoon Game Reserve 7824

Wright and Egg Islands Conservation Area 12 Tenure Type – Historic Site Wybalenna Island Conservation Area 21

Wye River Conservation Area 427 Name Area (ha)

Unnamed 531 Eddystone Point Lighthouse Historic Site 13

Unnamed 9 Entally House Historic Site 30

Unnamed 41 Low Head Historic Site 19

Unnamed 208 Mount Direction Historic Site 181

Unnamed 32 Ross Female Convict Station Historic Site 1

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 33 Sydney Cove Historic Site 61 Name Area (ha)

Waubadebars Grave Historic Site 0.001 Alma Tier Nature Reserve 34

Yorktown Historic Site 19 Bass Pyramid Nature Reserve 0.01

Baynes Island Nature Reserve 10 Tenure Type – National Park Big Green Island Nature Reserve 196

Name Area (ha) Butlers Ridge Nature Reserve 2880

Ben Lomond National Park 18166 Chappell Islands Nature Reserve 249

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park 14793 Curtis Island Nature Reserve 156

Douglas-Apsley National Park 15810 Dead Dog Hill Nature Reserve 40

Freycinet National Park 16851 Devils Tower Nature Reserve 7

Kent Group National Park 28880 Diamond Island Nature Reserve 8

Kent Group National Park 2373 Dry Creek East Nature Reserve 273

Mole Creek Karst National Park 1373 Dry Creek South Nature Reserve 120

Mount William National Park 18673 Dry Creek West Nature Reserve 205

Narawntapu National Park 4496 East Kangaroo Island Nature Reserve 198

Strzelecki National Park 7629 Foster Islands Nature Reserve 21

Walls of Jerusalem National Park 30743 George Rocks Nature Reserve 11

Governor Island Marine Nature Reserve 53 Tenure Type – Nature Recreation Area Hawley Nature Reserve 49

Name Area (ha) Isabella Island Nature Reserve 15

Emita Nature Recreation Area 122 Little Christmas Island Nature Reserve 5

Humbug Point Nature Recreation Area 1569 Little Swan Island Nature Reserve 20

Kate Reed Nature Recreation Area 109 Little Waterhouse Island Nature Reserve 6

Killiecrankie Nature Recreation Area 844 Low Islets Nature Reserve 5

Mount Tanner Nature Recreation Area 4224 Mersey Hill Karst Nature Reserve 43

Palana Beach Nature Recreation Area 59 Moriarty Rocks Nature Reserve 1

Trevallyn Nature Recreation Area 435 Native Point Nature Reserve 123

North East Islet Nature Reserve 1

Paddys Island Nature Reserve 4 Tenure Type – Nature Reserve Powranna Nature Reserve 269

34 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Rodondo Island Nature Reserve 113 Mount Barrow Falls State Reserve 101

Tenth Island Nature Reserve 1 Mount Barrow State Reserve 1577

Tom Gibson Nature Reserve 1013 Mount Pearson State Reserve 4590

West Moncoeur Island Nature Reserve 14 Notley Gorge State Reserve 11

Wingaroo Nature Reserve 10714 St Columba Falls State Reserve 450

Wright Rock Nature Reserve 6 St Marys Pass State Reserve 366

St Patricks Head State Reserve 1336 Tenure Type – Regional Reserve The Steppes State Reserve 385

Name Area (ha) Wye River State Reserve 2642

Avoca Regional Reserve 933 Tenure Type – Public Reserves Barway Spur Regional Reserve 171

Briggs Regional Reserve 2093 Name Area (ha)

Cameron Regional Reserve 20268 total unnamed public reserved = 9501 1347 Castle Cary Regional Reserve 5988

Dog Kennels Regional Reserve 582

Gog Range Regional Reserve 0.001

St Pauls Regional Reserve 4396

Tenure Type – State Reserve

Name Area (ha)

Alum Cliffs State Reserve 1584

Bradys Lookout State Reserve 0.8

Devils Gullet State Reserve 1119

Fairy Glade State Reserve 40

Forest Vale State Reserve 72

Holwell Gorge State Reserve 352

Liffey Falls State Reserve 105

Little Beach State Reserve 936

Logan Lagoon State Reserve 72

Lookout Rock State Reserve 2

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 35 Appendix 2A: Flow Diagram – Ignition Potential

Likelihood

Ignition Potential

Historical Lightning Probability BOM Professional Fire Records Observation

Human Caused Fires Optical Transient 1966–2007 Detector

Lightning Caused Fires Strike Data 2006–2007 1966–2007 Fire Season

36 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Appendix 2B: Flow Diagram – Suppression Capabilities

Likelihood

Supression Capabilities

Optimum Bucketing Ground Attack Rotary Wing Detection Capabilities Capabilities Coverage Attack Coverage

Hydrology Fire Towers PWS Bases PWS Bases – Large River/Lakes

Spotter Flights TFS Brigade Bases TFS Base

Commercial Fixed Wing Routes

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 37 Appendix 2C: Flow Diagram – Values at Risk

Consequences

Values at Risk

Forest/Agriculture Natural Values Constructed Values Values

PWS–IMS Production Forest Flora and Fauna

Wildland Urban Research Monitoring Geo-Morphic Interface

High Life Risk Vineyard Production Water Catchment

Multi Occupancy

Single Occupancy

Infrastructre

Critical Infrastructure

Burnable/Replaceable Infrastructure

Values – Non Burnable

38 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Appendix 2D: Flow Diagram – Fire Behaviour Potential

Likelihood

Fire Behaviour Potential

Head Fire Fuel Flammability Slope Factor Intensity Grid Grid

90 Weather Percentile

Fuel Group

Rate of Spread

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 39 Appendix 3A: Consequence Table

40 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Appendix 3B: Likelihood Table

Appendix 3C: Qualitative Risk Matrix

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 41 Appendix 4: State Fire Commission Policy

42 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Appendix 5: Infrastructure Development

Freycinet Lodge (in background)

Bradley Drive (new development)

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 43 Appendix 6: Daily Fire Action Plan

PWS Region? Region Daily Fire Action Plan Date: ? Duty Officer: Name and duty officer contact number Situation:

Permit period? (yes/no)

Current fires in region

Staff deployments

General weather conditions / SDI

Recent trouble spots

Campgrounds with recent illegal fires

Likelihood of fire escapes

PRMs, Snr Rangers or Rangers In Charge or delegate — please instruct staff to:

Action Details provide details appropriate to the fire weather forecast

Carry PPE

No of slip on units ready / field centre

Staff rostered on / FDA

Walking track closures

Reserve closures

Monitor weather if conducting hot works*

No hot works*

Reserve fire restrictions

Total Fire Ban

1st response IMT nominated

* Hot work includes the use of grinders, welders, brush cutters, chainsaws, earth moving equipment and other tools and equipment likely to create sparks.

44 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Fire Weather Forecast: Cut and paste in the regions section of the BOM fire weather forecast like the example below:

IDT13130 (list any specific instructions) Bureau of Meteorology, HOBART Fire Weather Forecast Issued at 3:47pm on Friday the 27th of March 2009 valid for Saturday 28/03/09 ------|------|------|------|---- | Rain mm | Max Wind km/hr | Fire Danger Index|Drgt Station | 24hr 6hr|Temp RH% Dir Spd Dew | Forest Scrb Moor |Fact ------|------|------|------|---- Tunnack | 0.0 0.0| 24 25 NW 25 3 | H15 N/A N/A | 7 ------|------|------|------|------|------|------|------|---- Hobart Apt | 0.0 0.0| 26 24 NNW 30 4 | VH24 N/A N/A | 9 Hobart City | 0.0 0.0| 26 24 NNW 30 4 | VH24 N/A N/A | 9 Mt Wellington | 0.0 0.0| 15 33 WNW 65 -1 | H15 H17 VH35 | 5 Geeveston | 0.0 0.0| 25 28 NW 30 5 | H16 H23 H13 | 7 All patrols Dover | 0.0 0.0| 24 31 NW 30 6 | H14 H23 H13 | 7 Moogara | 0.0 0.0| 22 29 WNW 25 3 | H12 H19 N/A | 7 to maintain Palmers Lookout| 0.0 0.0| 23 36 NW 20 7 | M8 M10 N/A | 6 Communication ------|------|------|------|---- Ouse | 0.0 0.0| 27 23 WNW 30 4 | VH28 N/A N/A | 10 Plan: Bushy Park | 0.0 0.0| 27 23 WNW 30 4 | VH25 N/A N/A | 9 Maydena | 0.0 0.0| 24 31 W 20 6 | M11 H14 M8 | 7 • Patrol supervisor Low Rocky Point| 0.5 0.0| 20 53 NNW 55 10 | N/A N/A H12 | 9 Scotts Peak | 0.5 0.0| 23 33 NNW 45 6 | H12 M10 M10 | 5 FOO? ------|------|------|------|---- • Radio channels to SITUATION: A ridge of high pressure over Victoria will move over the Tasman Sea tomorrow bringing a moderate to fresh northwest stream. An approaching trough use and cold front to cross the state from the southwest on Sunday with a moderate • Comms southeast stream to develop on Monday as a high passes to the south of the state. Moderate easterlies on Tuesday as the high moves away to our southeast. instructions, eg call hourly WEATHER SUMMARY: Patchy drizzle tomorrow in the west, mostly clearing during the day. Fine elsewhere. Mild to warm with moderate to fresh northwest winds, locally strong in the southwest but lighter in the east. Haines Index 5 High 1500m Temp= 13 1500m Dewpoint= -4 Fairly Dry

Region? IMT – First Response:

Position Name Mobile Backup

Incident Controller Operations Logistics Planning Air Base Manager Safety Advisor Div Com 1 Helicopters: Crew deployment for Date?

Patrol Deploy Return Location Unit Staff PRM Contact Instructions Map Time Time

Patrol: Joe Bloggs Ima Field Centre P25 1 0800 1800 Normal works + Fire Patrol 1, Fred Nerk Nickanoff Mt Field and Mt Bethune

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 45 Appendix 7: Fire Awareness Safety Briefing Form�

Safety Briefing Location______for time______for date ______

Weather Forecast Max temp Low RH Wind Precipitation Lightning Haines Index

Comments:

Fire Behaviour (Note: These predictions are based on the weather forecast above and are specific to the location and time mentioned above. Any changes in the weather and/or time of day may cause changes in fire behavior.

Location FFDI Scrub Moorland Drought Factor

Type of fire Forward rate Spotting (creeping, Approximate flame Fuel type description Danger rank of spread potential running, torching, height (m) (m/min) (m) active crown) Forest (McArthur MkV)

Forest (Vesta)

Heathland (Catchpole)

Moorland Buttongrass (Marsden-Smedley FFDI 1-5 FFDI 6-12 FFDI 13-24 FFDI 25 -50 FFDI 51-100 FFDI 100+ Flame lengths Active Crown Fire Flame lengths Active Crown Fire <5m Flame lengths <8m Flame lengths <14m Long Range Spotting <2m Long Range Spotting Spotting up to Spotting up to 600m Spotting up to 850m Indirect Attack/ No Spotting Indirect Attack/ Suppression 200m Anchor/Flank Indirect/ Anchor/Flank Suppression Action Direct Attack Action likely to fail Direct Attack likely to fail

Other Safety Concerns:

□ Falling Snags (winds over 20 km/h or high SDI values) □ Topography – slopes greater than 10%

□ Heavy Equipment – give briefing daily □ R/W Transport Date crew had last R/W briefing ______

□ Snakes □ Dehydration

□ Powerlines □

LACES (if work assignments change, LACES must be re-evaluated) LOOKOUT: L ...... AWARENESS: A...... COMMUNICATIONS: C...... ESCAPE ROUTE(S): E...... SAFETY ZONE(S): S......

Accidents/Injuries/Near Misses: ...... Were there any incidents within the last 24 hrs? Y N Details...... NAME OF 1st. AIDER......

Crew Concerns:

Duty Officer

46 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Appendix 8: Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council Landscape Indicators

Objective Performance Measure Phase and Reporting

1 Report of Government A1 Fire deaths per 100,000 persons A Services(RoGS) Reduced loss of life and injuries A2 Fire injuries per 100,000 persons 1 RoGS

B1 Number of primary dwellings destroyed 1 RoGS

B2 Percentage of area of high value/high risk zones burnt by wildfire. 1

B B3 Percentage of area of commercial plantations lost 1 Reduced economic loss

B4 Number of stock killed 1

B5 Kilometres of fencing destroyed 1

C Reduced disruption to the community and C1 Total number of hours by volunteers on wildfire suppression 1 RoGS its ability to function

D1 Number of cultural heritage sites damaged by wildfire. 1

D D2 Number of times the National Environmental Protection Measures standard for PM10 particulates resulting from wildfire and prescribed burns 2 Reduced damage to the environment, is exceeded each year in major population areas. heritage and cultural assets.

D3 Proportion of harnessed water catchments impacted by high intensity 2 wildfire

E1 Number of deliberate ignitions 1 E Number of prevenTable fires are reduced E2 Number of accidental ignitions 1

F1 Percentage of community who understand the role of prescribed 2 F burning The community is more informed of the role of fire in the landscape and supports F2 Percentage of community supporting prescribed burning as a necessary prescribed burning 2 act in the protection of the community

G1 Percentage of households in high risk areas that have prepared in 2 G accordance with community education guidelines. The community is informed about the risk they face from wildfire, are prepared for G2 Percentage of households that understand risk and know what to do 2 wildfire, and behave appropriately when a wildfire occurs. G3 Number of people that implement appropriate behaviours 2

H1 Percentage of fires contained to within determined standards in high 2 value zones. H Fires are contained to as small as possible H2 Percentage trend in median fire size in high risk/ high value zones. 2

H3 Percentage of specified fires not contained prior to 1000 the next day 2

I I1 Percentage of target area that is treated to specified standard Fuel reduction is maintained to within 2 – % of target area burnt during prescribed burns specified standards

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 47 Appendix 9: Parks and Wildlife Service Strategic Plan

48 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 Appendix 10: Regional Local Council Groups

Name Office Business # After Hours # Fax

Break O Day St Helens 6376 1281 0417 368 750

Central Coast Ulverstone 6429 8900 6425 1224

Central Highlands Hamilton 6286 3202 6286 3334

Derwent Valley New Norfolk 6261 8500 6261 8500 6261 8546

Devonport City Devonport 6424 0511 6423 3074 6424 9649

Dorset Scottsdale 6362 6500 6352 6510

Flinders Island Whitemark 6359 2131 6359 2083

Kentish Sheffield 6491 2500 0418 122 994 6491 1659

Launceston Launceston 6223 3000 6223 3333

Latrobe Latrobe 6426 1041 6426 2653 6426 2121

Meander Valley Westbury 6393 5300 6393 5300 6393 1474

Glamorgan Spring Bay Triabunna/Swansea 6257 3113 0417 512 719

6223 9300 West Tamar Riverside/ Beaconsfield 6398 2281 6383 6350

George Town George Town 6382 8800 6382 1211

Hamilton 6286 3202 Central Highlands Bothwell 6259 5503

Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009 49 w

Contact details Fire Management Section Parks and Wildlife Service GPO Box 1751, Hobart Tasmania 7001

Contact details

Fire Management Section

Parks and Wildlife Service

GPO Box 1751

Hobart , Tasmania 7001

50 Northern Region Strategic Fire Management Plan, November 2009