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Wildfire Management Overlay saved houses during
Black Saturday
Houses built in bushfire hotspots that met current Wildfire Management Overlay
(WMO) standards were three times more likely to survive the Black Saturday fire
conditions, according to a new University study.
And the co-author of the study, Dr Alan March, says the planning overlay needs to be
extended to a range of other bushfire risk areas where development is occurring without
careful consideration of the associated risks.
“It’s clear that in the fire footprint area, the rate of loss for WMO-referred houses was three
times lower compared with houses within the WMO area not referred to the CFA and
assessed according to WMO principles.”
“The clear association with significantly fewer house losses, and integration of a number of
widely accepted practices including implementing defendable space to limit the impacts of
radiant heat and ember attack and eradicate direct flame contact, suggests that the WMO
is a highly effective planning tool for reducing house loss.”
The Wildfire Management Overlay - part of the Victoria Planning Provisions – is
incorporated into many local government planning schemes. It seeks to ensure that
applications to build in areas of identified high bushfire risk satisfy specified fire protection
objectives, do not significantly increase threat to life or property and provides the minimum
fire protection requirements to assist in protecting life and property from wildfire.
The research, completed with the CFA, investigated five out of the many reported fire
complexes in the February 2009 Victorian Bushfire event including the Kilmore East -
Murrindindi fire, the Churchill - Jeeralang fire, the Delburn fire, the Beechworth fire and the
Bunyip fire.
Dr March says that while the effectiveness of the WMO has come under question after
more than 2000 homes were lost during the Feb 2009 bushfires, results show that where
the CFA assessed a planning application and imposed those overlay conditions on a new
house, it tended to have a much higher survival rate.
“Within the five studied fire areas just 11.76 percent of WMO-referred dwellings were
destroyed, compared with 38.06 percent of houses overall (includes WMO & non WMO
Media Release
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Issued: Thursday 4 February 2009
For expert views on news & the latest news from the University of Melbourne go to:
Public Relations Unit Tel:+61 3 8344 4123 / Corporate Affairs Unit Tel: + 61 3 8344 6158
areas), and 40.3 percent house loss in the WMO areas for non-WMO referred houses,”
says Dr March.
“The overlay has been effective as a planning instrument in reducing house loss in
bushfires. But we require a broad approach embracing community education alongside a
more consistent and integrated planning and building regulation system to fully harness
the ability of mechanisms such as the WMO to reduce bushfire risks.”
For more information about this article:
Dr Alan March (Architecture, Building and Planning): T: +613 8344 7077 M: 0419 922 631
E: alanpm@unimelb.edu.au
David Scott (Media Unit): T: +613 8344 0561 M: 0409 024 230 E:
dascott@unimelb.edu.au
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