Fire Management Zones
DEPI is taking a more risk-based approach to bushfire management planning. This includes a range of measures to reduce the risk and impacts of bushfires to people, property and communities. DEPI’s primary objectives for bushfire management are outlined in the Code of Practice for Bushfire Management on Public Land.
Fire Management Zones guide our planned burning program by determining where and how much planned burning should be carried out in different areas. The zones are incorporated in Fire Operations Plans which outline where planned burning and other fire preparedness works are intended to be carried out on public land.
The four Fire Management Zones used by DEPI are:
Asset Protection Zone
The Asset Protection Zone provides the highest level of localised protection to human life and property and key community assets by reducing radiant heat and ember attack in the event of a bushfire. Fuel is reduced through a combination of planned burning and other methods such as mowing, slashing or vegetation removal.
Bushfire Moderation Zone
The Bushfire Moderation Zone aims to reduce the speed and intensity of bushfires and protect nearby assets, particularly from ember spotting during a bushfire. May also achieve ecological outcomes through ecologically desirable fire regimes - this may include using other fuel management methods.
Landscape Management Zone
The Landscape Management Zone has three broad aims:
- bushfire protection by reducing the overall fuel and bushfire hazard in the landscape
- ecological resilience through appropriate fire regimes
- management of the land for particular values including forest regeneration and protection of water catchments at a landscape level.
Other fuel reduction methods will be used within this zone as appropriate.
Planned Burning Exclusion Zone
The Planned Burning Exclusion Zone excludes the use of planned burning primarily in areas intolerant to fire.
Fire management zoning is designed to be adaptive. As we improve our ability to predict fire behaviour and as the environment changes, zoning can be reviewed and updated. Further information regarding Fire Management Zones can be found in the Code of Practice for Bushfire Management on Public Land.
DEPI has developed an interactive map which displays the type and location of Fire Management Zones, along with the locations of planned burns over the next 3 years.