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| Timber & Construction in Bushfire Prone Areas |
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| Thursday, 02 April 2009 00:00 |
 Unfortunately, bushfires are a fact of life in Australia as the recent tragedy in
Victoria has underscored.
In many parts of Australia, land will be assessed as being at a particular risk of bushfire hazards using the Australian Standard AS 3959 (in NSW additional guidelines are used; Planning for Bushfire Protection). AS 3959, which is referenced in the Building Code of Australia has, among other requirements, requirements for different types of construction (and materials) depending on the risk of bushfire. The Standard has been under major revision since publication of the second edition in 1999. Due to the recent bushfires in Victoria, the Standards committee members (from organisations such as the fire services, fire testing agencies, the housing industry and timber associations) have recently completed and published the third edition AS 3959-2009. The new standard treats timber differently to the old standard and the requirement varies due to the level of risk from bushfire being applied. Lower levels of risk require certain densities for various applications, whilst higher risk reduces the timbers that can be used. The highest levels require compliance to a full scale test. This test method standard is a system approach not just a material test. This should allow more timber to be used and since mid last year, TDA jointly with the Forest and Wood Products Australia is working on increasing the range of timbers that are acceptable in bushfire construction. Some members may have been approached recently to supply timber samples for this exercise. These have been gratefully received and used in recent tests. It was hoped to complete the work before the standard was published but the extraordinary circumstance in Victoria has seen its early publication. We plan to provide a more thorough update in the next newsletter on some of the detail in the new Standard. Please note that AS3959-2009 does not yet apply in New South Wales, but applies to Victoria and ACT. TDA will keep you up to date if this changes. To assist builders, specifiers and planners understand the new edition of the Standard TDANSW (as part of the Technical Timber Education Program) is currently preparing a free CPD Course to understand AS 3959 (and specific state requirements) and how/where timber can be used in bushfire prone areas. The Course will be available mid 2009 – for more details please contact Stephen Mitchell at TDA on 02 9279 2366 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . |
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