Bushfire prone areas

It’s important to understand the risk of the place you live or plan to live. Find out if your property is located in a bushfire prone area and view the planning requirements below.

Identifying at-risk land

The Map of Bushfire Prone Areas identifies land in Western Australia that has the potential to be impacted by bushfires. This land is designated by the Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner.

Additional planning and building requirements may apply to new proposals within a bushfire prone area. A further assessment of bushfire risk may also be required to ensure future developments in bushfire prone areas are safer.

The requirements are described in State Planning Policy 3.7: Bushfire (SPP 3.7) and the Guidelines for Planning in Bushfire Prone Areas (Guidelines). You can find these documents at wa.gov.au.

Planning and building requirements

Additional planning and building requirements may apply to development within designated Bushfire Prone Areas, in accordance with Schedule 2 Part 10A of the Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015, SPP 3.7, the Guidelines, and the Building Code of Australia.

If you are the proponent, you’ll be responsible for ensuring that the proposal complies with the relevant planning policies and building regulations.

Map of Bushfire Prone Areas

View the Map to see all of the bush fire prone areas in WA.

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Review of the Map of Bushfire Prone Areas

The Map of Bushfire Prone Areas is reviewed regularly to better represent bushfire risk across Western Australia.

The latest version of the Map was designated under section 18P of the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1998 on 20 September 2024 and comes into effect on 24 September 2024.

A four month transition period will apply for newly designated areas on the Map.

Please contact your local government if you have information to contribute to the next review of the Map.

Land use in bushfire prone areas

DFES plays an important role providing technical bushfire related advice to inform and guide decision-making on strategic planning proposals, and subdivision and development applications for land within a designated bushfire prone area.

The Land Use Planning team also provide evidence for the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) proceedings on bushfire risk, together with its consequences for planning decisions; and act as a referral agency when there is Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) contamination.

Unexploded ordnance (UXO)

DFES provides advice on potential hazards of changing land use or developing unexploded ordnance (UXO) affected sites and makes recommendations where a UXO Risk Assessment (or similar) of land is appropriate to identify and address UXO risk. DFES does not have technical knowledge in UXO management, and its advice is mostly based on the information available from the Department of Defence.

Frequently Asked Questions

If the UXO category is ‘Substantial’:

The area has a confirmed history of military activities that often results in numerous residual hazardous munitions, components or constituents.

Department of Defence (DoD) ‘Advice: Whilst current land usage may continue without specific UXO search or remediation, Defence recommends that specialist advice is obtained. A detailed UXO Risk Assessment and UXO Management Plan should be developed as necessary.

Defence recommends that any development, land usage re-zoning proposals or other significant changes in proposed activities for land parcels classified as Substantial should only proceed once an appropriate UXO Risk Assessment has been conducted by a suitable specialist and mitigations implemented to address the risks identified. Such mitigations could typically include one or more of the following as identified in the UXO Risk Assessment:

Field investigations to refine hazard areas.
Remediation to remove or neutralise hazards (remediation provides the highest level of confidence that potential risks have been reduced to tolerable levels); and/or
A formal UXO Management Plan and/or UXO risks included in the construction site safety management plans.’

If the UXO category is ‘Slight’:

The area has a confirmed history of military activities that often results in numerous residual hazardous munitions, components or constituents, however where confirmed UXO affected areas cannot be defined.

DoD ‘Advice: Whilst current land use may continue without further UXO investigation or remediation, Defence recommends that consideration is given to obtaining specialist advice and undertaking a detailed UXO Risk Assessment and developing a UXO Management Plan as necessary.

Defence recommends that any development, land usage re-zoning proposals or other significant changes in proposed activities for land parcels classified as Slight are preceded by an appropriate UXO Risk Assessment. A project- or activity-specific UXO Management Plan may be considered for ongoing activities, and the possibility of encountering munitions should be adequately addressed in activity plans (e.g. construction site safety management plans).’

There is generally a lesser risk of the presence of UXO than on sites classified as Substantial.

If the UXO category is ‘Remote’:

The area was used for military purposes; however, the activity is of a nature that UXO would unlikely exist.

DoD ‘Advice: All land usage and development, within these areas, may continue without further UXO investigation or remediation. If at any time UXO or related material is identified, consideration should be given to seeking specialist advice.’

If the UXO category is ‘Other’:

The area was used for military training, however no confirmation that it was used for live firing. UXO or explosive ordnance fragments/components have not been recovered from the site.

DoD ‘Advice: These sites have been included for general information purposes only. Defence makes no recommendations in regard to this category.’

If the UXO category is ‘Information’:

The area was used for routine military activity, however, was of a type not associated with producing UXO.

DoD ‘Advice: These sites have been included for general information purposes only. Defence makes no recommendations in regard to this category.’

If the UXO category is ‘Sea Dumping’:

The area has been used for historical sea-dumping of waste material that may include explosive ordnance. These sites are generally marked on charts and published in Notice to Mariners along with appropriate advice.

DoD ‘Advice: There are no restrictions to surface maritime activities in these areas. Any activity that will disturb the seabed such as anchoring, trawling and dredging are prohibited in these areas.’

Further information relating to UXO is available on the Department of Defence website.

Resources

View all DFES publications

Have a question?

For map and dataset queries, contact us at the Office of Bushfire Risk Management. To enquire about a referral or UXO contamination, contact the Land Use Planning team.

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