Centre of Excellence for Prescribed Burning

National prescribed burning guidelines and frameworks

Name: National prescribed burning guidelines and frameworks
Start: 0001-01-01
End: 0001-01-01
Location: National

These guidelines and frameworks were produced by the National Burning Project.

The National Burning Project has brought together interrelated aspects of prescribed burning across Australasia to design guiding frameworks and principles for a more holistic and consistent approach to prescribed burning. The project has delivered a suite of products that informs all levels of prescribed burning.

The National Burning Project was an initiative of the Forest Fire Management Group (FFMG) and jointly funded by member agencies of the Australian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) and Commonwealth of Australia.

All products are available for download below. Print version may be purchased from the AFAC shop.

Documents

pdf 3.4 MB

FFMG National Bushfire Management Policy Statement for Forests and Rangelands The National Burning Project products are aligned to this policy statement and supporting strategies that were developed by all Australian governments to guide the evolution of effective and ecologically sustainable fire regimes within Australia. It builds on experience gained across Australia and assists in developing a more coordinated approach. This policy lays the foundation for future bushfire management in Australia, Download

pdf 1.4 MB

National Position on Prescribed Burning This National Position was developed by AFAC, through extensive consultation with AFAC and FFMG member agencies, and provides guidance on prescribed burn programs and policy. The position is a statement of common underlying principles for prescribed burning, and represents consensus across Australian fire and land management agencies. Download

pdf 1.8 MB

Best Practice Principles for Prescribed Burning A synopsis of the principles that underpin prescribed burning presented in a fold-out diagram. These principles draw upon the National Burning Project's National Guidelines for Strategic and Program Planning and the National Guideline for Prescribed Burning Operations. Download

pdf 2.0 MB

National Guidelines for Prescribed Burning Strategic and Program Planning Together with the National Guidelines for Prescribed Burning Operations, these guidelines build a set of best practice principles, supported by evidence and guiding notes. Download

pdf 3.5 MB

National Guidelines for Prescribed Burning Operations Together with the National Guidelines for Prescribed Burning Strategic and Program Planning, these guidelines build a set of best practice principles supported by evidence and guiding notes. Download

pdf 6.0 MB

Prescribed Burning Performance Measures This document proposes a consistent support of performance measures that can be adopted by agencies Australia and New Zealand. They encompass prescribed burning inputs, activities outputs and short to long term goals; and cover a wide range of topics such as financial, community support, burn implementation, risk reduction and ecological considerations. Download

pdf 5.6 MB

Objectives Setting and Analysis Prescribed burning programs usually come with two main objectives: • Reducing the risks to the community; and/or • Protecting biodiversity values. These objectives may in some cases be complementary, but are often in direct conflict, requiring an understanding of trade-offs. This report examines two case studies that use a cost:benefit tool for assessing outcomes from prescribed burning program strategies. Download

pdf 1.8 MB

Risk Management Frameworks - Overview The Risk Management Framework for Prescribed Burning is a synopsis of the key materials produced for the National Burning Project's four risk management frameworks reports on Fuel Hazards, Operations, Ecological and Smoke and Greenhouse Gases. Download

pdf 3.9 MB

Risk Management Framework - Fuel Hazards This document reviews the approaches undertaken by various Australian and New Zealand land and fire management agencies with regard to management of risks associated with bushfire fuels. This starting point informs a framework that can be adopted by Australian and New Zealand agencies to facilitate an improved alignment of approaches and greater appreciation of fuel risks. Download

pdf 2.8 MB

Risk Management Framework - Operational This document examines operational risks to life and property, and analyses the risk controls in a structured manner to help ensure prescribed burns are implemented effectively and safely. Download

pdf 4.0 MB

Risk Management Framework - Ecological This framework provides an approach to consider the steps and processes land managers can take when seeking the best ecological outcomes with regards to prescribed burning. It offers a synthesis of concerns, approaches and activities that organisations across Australia engage in to manage ecological risks associated with prescribed burning. Download

pdf 2.3 MB

Risk Management Framework - Smoke and Greenhouse Gases This document reviews the approaches undertaken by various Australian and New Zealand land and fire management agencies with regard to management of risks associated with smoke and greenhouse gas emissions. This starting point informs frameworks for use in the context of prescribed burning to manage smoke and emissions impacts on amenities, prosperity, health and safety. Download

pdf 1.0 MB

Process map for prescribed burning This process map contains the steps worthy of consideration for prescribed burning irrespective of who is undertaking it or where, from strategic planning through to burn implementation phases. They reflect the National Guidelines for Prescribed Burning Strategic and Program Planning and the National Guidelines for Prescribed Burning Operations and have also drawn from the learner resources: Complex Prescribed Burns and Simple Prescribed Burns. Download

pdf 1.9 MB

Objectives, Monitoring and Evaluation Framework This synopsis contains high-level principles and guidelines for formulating objectives and monitoring programs, emphasising the relationship among different levels of objectives and between objectives, and monitoring and evaluation of objectives. Download

pdf 0.8 MB

Program Logic for Prescribed Burning This program logic is a diagrammatic representation of the vision, strategic objectives, goals, inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes that underpin prescribed burning in Australia, including the underlying relationships and assumptions. Download

pdf 14.4 MB

Plan and Conduct Complex Burns The target audience for this training resource kit is individuals who wish to plan or conduct complex prescribed burns. A complex prescribed burn is characterised by moderate to high risk, a range of fire intensities, medium to large areas, and significant potential impacts on assets, and may involve a variety of fuels and terrain. Download

pdf 9.3 MB

Plan and Conduct Simple Burns The target audience for this training resource is individuals who wish to plan or conduct simple prescribed burns. A simple prescribed burn is characterised by low risk, low intensity, small area, low potential impact on assets, completion in one shift and minimal variation of fuel and terrain. Download

pdf 7.2 MB

Assist with Prescribed Burning This training resource kit will assist participants to develop the skills and knowledge required to assist in prescribed burning activities. Participants undertaking this course of study will be required to work as a member of a crew. While there will be some supervision by the Officer-in-Charge, there will be situations where activities will be undertaken without direct supervision. Download

pdf 1.9 MB

Overview of Prescribed Burning in Australasia This report is a useful introduction and overview to prescribed burning in Australasia, including the role of fire in the Australasian landscape; the origins of Australasian prescribed burning; its use as a bushfire management tool and for biodiversity outcomes, smoke and climate change concerns; and the evidence base that underpins the use of planned fire. Download

pdf 10.8 MB

Review of Best Practice This report provides a detailed account of prescribed burning practices considered to be examples of best practice. The practices north of the Tropic of Capricorn are described separately from those in southern Australia and New Zealand. The report provides ideas and processes that can be incorporated into a fuel management approach to reflect learnings and best practice application to date. Download

pdf 2.7 MB

Case study 1 – Bush-urban interface burning in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales This case study incorporates burn operations planning and implementation practice information, as well as relevant fire science on which current procedures have been founded. It focuses on prescribed burning in public land managed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. Download

pdf 1.6 MB

Case study 2 – Burning young silvertop ash regrowth forests in New South Wales Young regrowth forests being managed for timber production and other values can suffer significant damage, timber value degrade, and productivity loss from fires of sufficient intensity to cause excessive stem or crown damage. Forestry organisations may seek to reduce the risk of future tree crop damage by wildfire, through conducting fuel reduction burning in regrowth forests that are suitably resilient to low intensity fire. Download

pdf 3.2 MB

Case study 3 – Low intensity burning in tall moist Karri forests in Western Australia This case study incorporates relevant fuel assessment fire behaviour prediction components from the Forest Fire Behaviour Tables for Western Australia – commonly called the ‘Red Book’ and planning practice from the Department of Parks and Wildlife’s Prescribed Fire Manual 2013. Download

pdf 7.0 MB

Case study 4 – Multi-year landscape burning in forested mountain terrain using natural boundaries in Victoria This case study integrates knowledge and operational practice information from a range of sources including the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP)’s Landscape Mosaic Burning Planning Guidelines, and burn planning information for the Lake Dartmouth Landscape Mosaic Burn Unit. The case study focuses on the Lake Dartmouth Landscape Mosaic Burn Unit in order to illustrate broad-scale, unbounded mosaic burning. Download

pdf 1.8 MB

Case study 5 – Semi-arid mallee and mallee-heath burning This case study is a synthesis of semi-arid mallee and mallee-heath fuels, fire behaviour and burning information documented in reports from South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. It incorporates burn operations planning and implementation practice information, as well as relevant fire science on which current procedures are founded. Download

pdf 2.2 MB

Case study 6 – Buttongrass moorland burning in Tasmania This case study is a synthesis of buttongrass burning information documented in Buttongrass Moorland Fire-Behaviour Prediction and Management, Planned Burning in Tasmania I, II, and III, and Parks and Wildlife Service Fire Planning Policy P- 055. It incorporates burning operations planning and implementation practice information, as well as relevant fire science on which current procedures are founded. Download

pdf 1.8 MB

Case study 7 – Burning for greenhouse gas abatement in Northern Australia This case study synthesises information from Russell-Smith et al., with general procedural information about planning and implementing savanna burning. Download

pdf 3.8 MB

Case study 8 – Burning of spinifex grasslands in the arid interior of Western Australia This case study synthesises information from the Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) Prescribed Fire Manual; the Western Australia Spinifex Grassland Fire Behaviour Guide – Mk 2, the DPaW Lorna Glen/Earaheedy Fire Management Plan 2011–2015; and annual operations implementation reports. Download

pdf 2.3 MB

Case study 9 – Burning for eucalypt forest health in South-east Queensland and Northern New South Wales This case study summarises how a Vegetation Condition Assessment Framework is applied as part of the Burning Block Analysis Phase (Principles 1 and 2) to south-east Queensland conservation reserves. Download

pdf 6.8 MB

Training Competencies and Delivery Review This review delivers a number of recommendations to • Ensure a suitable, adequate and approved suite of competency standards exist within the Public Safety Training package (PSTP) for the tasks and roles required for prescribed burning for all users; and • Investigate and recommend the preferred options for the delivery of national training programs to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of current arrangements. Download Source: AFAC Copyright: AFAC 2018

pdf 5.0 MB

Capability and Optimisation Review This document comprises an assessment of the current capability across Australia and reports on options to improve capability for prescribed burning within the member agencies of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council Ltd (AFAC) and the Forest Fire Management Group (FFMG). Download

pdf 5.0 MB

Capability Opitimisation Review This document comprises an assessment of the current capability across Australia and reports on options to improve capability for prescribed burning within the member agencies of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council Ltd (AFAC) and the Forest Fire Management Group (FFMG). Download