Strategic Bushfire Management Plan

The aim of this project was to document a coordinated and efficient approach toward identification, assessment and treatment of the priority assets exposed to bushfire risk within the Shire of Esperance. Our role in the project included:

• undertaking a critical review of the Shire’s existing bushfire risk management plan
• identifying priority human settlement, economic and environmental assets
• allocation of a risk score and priority against each asset to assist the Shire with prioritising the development of tenure-blind asset specific bushfire treatment strategies in consultation with relevant stakeholders.

We developed and implemented a risk assessment methodology for priority assets that included:

• vulnerability of assets
• ignition risk, including consideration of bushfire frequency and cause of ignition data
• fuel hazard for major vegetation types surrounding assets
• predicted fire behaviour based on identification of 95^th percentile weather conditions, fuel types and age and topography
• bushfire response capacity considering location of suppression resources, water supplies and vehicle access
• the value of assets that would be damaged or lost.