Fire Management Area Committees

The Central North Fire Management Area covers the municipalities of Latrobe, Kentish, Meander Valley, and parts of the Central Highlands. This area includes diverse landscapes from coastal plains to highland forests.

Key features of this area include:

• Significant agricultural lands requiring seasonal burning management
• Interface areas between residential zones and bushland
• Important water catchment areas that need protection

The committee meets quarterly to review and update risk management strategies.

The East Coast Fire Management Area encompasses the municipalities of Glamorgan-Spring Bay and Break O’Day. This coastal region faces unique fire management challenges due to its tourism significance and ecological values.

Current priorities include:

• Protection of coastal communities with limited evacuation routes
• Management of fire risks in popular national parks and reserves
• Coordination with tourism operators on emergency procedures

The committee has recently completed a comprehensive risk assessment of the Freycinet Peninsula area.

The Flinders Fire Management Area covers Flinders Island and the Furneaux Group. As an island community, this area has specific challenges related to isolation and limited firefighting resources.

Special considerations for this area include:

• Self-sufficiency planning for extended fire events
• Protection of rare and endemic species in island ecosystems
• Coordination of air support for firefighting operations

The committee works closely with island residents on community-based fire prevention strategies.

The Hobart FMA is approximately 110,000 ha in size. It includes the local government areas of Hobart, Glenorchy, Clarence, Brighton and parts of Kingborough, Huon Valley and Derwent Valley.

The Hobart FMA has two very distinct geographical features; firstly the area is bisected by the River Derwent, and secondly the Wellington Range borders many Hobart suburbs to the west, creating a long urban/bush interface.

Tasmania’s most extreme fire weather events often occur within, and in areas adjacent to, the Hobart FMA.

Rainfall varies considerably over the area (1600mm per year on the summit of Mt Wellington to less than 500mm per year at the Hobart Airport) resulting in a highly variable fire season with some areas being able to sustain fire for many months of the year. Due to this the length of the fire season can range from October through to April in areas of lower rainfall and from December to March in areas of higher rainfall and wetter vegetation types.

This FMA covers the whole of King Island, an area of 110,975 hectares located at the western entrance of the Bass Strait, midway between Victoria and mainland Tasmania. Approximately 17% of the island is public land, managed by Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) and Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT). 1,617 people (ABS 2021) occupy the remaining 83% (private/freehold land), serviced by the sole local government authority on the island, King Island Council.

When considering bushfire as a threat for the community of King Island, the greatest threat comes from human ignition. Of the bushfires recorded on the island, human ignition has been a common cause. Since European settlement in the mid 1800’s, fire has been utilised for clearing vegetation for establishing a successful agricultural industry on the island. As such, it has been estimated that approximately 70% of the land mass has been modified for agricultural purposes and has subsequently resulted in the dramatic decline and in some cases elimination of most rainforest and wet forest vegetation communities and accompanying animal species from areas of the island.

Bushfire continues to be a major ongoing threat to both the quality and scope of King Island’s biodiversity. Bushfire is a major threat to threatened species on King Island.  The remoteness of King Island from mainland Tasmania means that assistance from “off island” in the form of extra resources and crews that may be required to control a large-scale bushfire on the island can be logistically challenging.

The Midlands FMA is approximately 1,059,000 ha in size and covers two local government areas, being Central Highlands and Southern Midlands. Approximately 8,100 people live within the Midlands FMA, predominately around the south east corner, closest to the outer settlements of Hobart. The Midlands FMA also contains smaller isolated communities located in the Southern Midlands and Central Highlands.

Throughout the Midlands FMA, the population is low and dispersed, which correlates with the major land uses, particularly the large proportion of land used for agriculture, forestry and conservation.  Shack communities are present around a number of highland lakes, with the population in these communities being seasonally variable.

Within the Midlands FMA approximately 54.9% of land is private/freehold, 26.7% is PWS managed land, 11.6% is STT managed land and 6.8% is Crown Land.

The North East FMA comprises 681,193ha and has a population of approximately 12,844.  Approximately two thirds of the human settlement areas are found inland (Scottsdale and Fingal Valley) with the remainder along the coastal strip (Bridport, Musselroe Bay, Ansons Bay, Binalong Bay and St Helens to Scamander).  The population of the coastal human settlement areas swell during the summer months as do towns associated with mountain bike trails, golf courses, beaches, national parks, and other attractions.

The principal industries within the North East FMA are agriculture and forestry with other key employment generators being retail, accommodation, food services and manufacturing.

The Southern FMA is approximately 1,037,000 ha in size and covers three local government areas (Derwent Valley, Kingborough and Huon Valley).  Much of the area is uninhabited and forms part of the South West National Park. The majority of the population in the Southern FMA are found in the southern settlements of Hobart, the Huon Valley and along the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. Significant populations are located around New Norfolk with smaller populations located in the Tyenna Valley.

Within the Southern FMA approximately 14% of land is private/freehold, 73% is public/crown land 11% is Sustainable Timber Tasmania managed land. The major vegetation types within the Southern FMA are: Wet Eucalypt forest (28%), Moorland species (18%), Rainforest (14%) and Dry Eucalypt forest (9%). In terms of area suitable for fuel reduction burning within the Southern FMA, 36% (373200 ha) of the area has been categorised as treatable while 64% (663400 ha) of the area has been classified as untreatable.  These are very broad figures and are based on TasVeg mapping and flammability attributes.  Actual areas suitable for fuel reduction burning will need to be determined by field inspection.

The Southern FMA contains some of the wettest and driest locations in Tasmania.  Because of this the length of the fire season can vary considerably with drier locations having fire seasons that run from October to April while areas of higher rainfall and wetter vegetation types limited to the period December to March. The majority (84%) of the Southern FMA has been untouched by fire since records began.  16% of the FMA is noted as having been subject to fire at least once.  Approximately 2% of the FMA has been subject to more than 2 fires at the same location. Within the Southern FMA the main causes of fire are; undetermined or unknown (41%), Arson (18%), Lightning (15%), recreation (13%) and escapes from planned burns (11%).

The Tamar Fire Management Area (FMA) is located on the north coast of Tasmania and encompasses the city of Launceston, the Tamar River Estuary and the Northern Midlands plains. The FMA covers an area of 859 086 ha and is a mixture of lands with high conservation value and high agricultural value. The region is dominated by agricultural and pastoral activities, particularly meat and wool production, apples, berries and viticulture, with the Tamar Valley being one of Tasmania’s leading wine producing areas. Tourism, manufacturing and mineral exploration are also important industries for the region.

An estimated population of 106,000 reside within the Fire Management Area with several major population centres including Launceston, Beaconsfield/Beauty Point, George Town, Hadspen, Legana, Longford, Perth and Westbury.

Fire is an integral component of the Australian landscape and has the potential to impact all aspects and values of the FMA. Historical records have indicated that fire ignitions have been predominately human based though dry lightning events has ignited fires within the FMA. Changing climatic conditions are predicted to lead to more extreme fire weather events increasing the fire risk to the communities and assets within the FMA.

This West Coast FMA covers just over 1.9 million hectares and has an estimated residential population of 46,598 people (ABS 2021). The FMA extends westwards from the township of Heybridge on Tasmania’s north-west coast to Cape Grim on the West Coast and southwards as far as Davey Head. The FMA encompasses Robbins Island, Hunter Island and Three Hummock Island in Bass Strait.

A substantial proportion of West Coast FMA is formally reserved with larger reserves within the planning area including part of Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park, Franklin – Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, the Southwest Conservation Area (which all form part of the Western Tasmania World Heritage Area), the Arthur Pieman Conservation Area in the west and Savage River National Park in the north of the planning area.

Vegetation in the West Coast FMA is well adapted to fire with the region experiencing a relatively high frequency of fast-moving bushfires which burn out large areas of the FMA.

Whilst the West Coast FMA contains a significant percentage of low flammability vegetation types it also contains a higher percentage of highly flammable vegetation in the form of button grass moorland, sedge land, rush land and peatland as well as scrub and heathland.