As bushfires ravage much of Australia, a QUT expert has called for an urgent review of planning regulations which currently limit construction to conventional homes only able to withstand moderate levels of bushfire attack.
He also believes the mass clearing of trees on new estates and around homes is a dangerous folly when trees are known to provide protection to homes during a bushfire. And Queensland is most at risk.
“Across this burning continent the single greatest threat to innovation and our adaptation to bushfire are state and local government planning regulations which mandate uniform specifications for cleared zones of vegetation around new and existing homes,” said Dr Ian Weir, architect and lecturer with QUT’s School of Design.
“While Australia’s bushfire building standards (AS3959 and others) are the most advanced in the world – prescribing construction details for houses sited in the most extreme ‘catastrophic’ conditions - the application of those standards is significantly hamstrung by planning controls.
“This is especially the case in Queensland where homes only have to be built to withstand ‘very high’ fire danger levels (FDI 40), which is less than half the level of resilience required for ‘catastrophic’ conditions (FDI 100+) – which is where most buildings and life loss has occurred in Australian bushfires.”
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