Firefighters checking weather conditions
Firefighters checking weather conditions

Planning and Preparation

Find out more

​​​​What is involved?

Before a burn can be undertaken there is a significant amount of planning and assessment across the state that must be undertaken. This includes:

  • ​​Selecting the most appropriate place to burn by identifying what communities and assets are most at risk from potential bushfire.

  • Once areas are selected and deemed appropriate, the burn must be checked for potential impacts on natural values including native flora, fauna, and vegetation communities. 

  • Input and advice are sought from specialists and content experts to identify any potential adverse impacts to identified species and communities. We can use this information to minimise the impact on natural or cultural values. For example, this might mean we avoid burning in spring to avoid disrupting breeding activities for some threatened speices or flowering of threatened species.
  • The planning process also identifies Aboriginal and European cultural heritage values, PWS assets, stakeholders and recreational activities that could potentially impacted by the propsed burn.   

This information helps inform how we plan a burn. ​We spend a lot of time considering the safest way to burn, what resources are needed, the optimal weather conditions and method of ignition.  All this information is captured in a burn plan which guides the operations on the day of the burn​​​​.   

Once a window of suitable weather for burning is identified, resources necessary to deliver the burn are sourced and final notifications to stakeholders and neighbours are provided.

Planned burns often take one or two days to complete, but crews will continue to patrol them for a few days after. Crews take this opportunity to mop up the burn, ensuring the fuels on the edge are not smouldering away. This helps ensure we minimise the risk of the burn reigniting in the days and weeks after should we get dry and windy conditions. ​