NSW government schools by bushfire category (2024)

Bush Fire Prone Land (BFPL) is mapped within a local government area, which becomes the trigger for planning for bush fire protection. Bush Fire Prone Land mapping is intended to designate areas of the State that are considered to be higher bush fire risk for development control purposes. Not being designated bush fire prone is not a guarantee that losses from bush fires will not occur.

The NSW Bush Fire Prone Land dataset is a map prepared in accordance with the Guide for Bush Fire Prone Land Mapping (BFPL Mapping Guide) and certified by the Commissioner of NSW RFS under purposes of Section 10.3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 No 203.

Over time there has been various releases of the BFPL Mapping Guide, in which the categories and types of vegetation included in the BFPL map have changed. The version of the guide under which, each polygon or LGA was certified is contained in the data. An area of land that can support a bush fire or is likely to be subject to bush fire attack, as designated on a bush fire prone land map.

The department's use of BFPL data

• The NSW Bush Fire Prone Land dataset (RFS - Bushfire Hazard Zones) contains areas with categories and types of vegetation prone to bush fire.
• The spatial dataset is included in Asset Management System (AMS) spatial module and can be overlayed with other relevant data in AMS.
• This information is spatially overlayed with the school location to identify the schools with risk to bushfire.
• BFPL affected schools are identified attaching a record describing the corresponding 'RFS Bushfire’ category.
• The BFPL category for affected schools can be found under the school elements in AMS.
• RFS BFPL School Maps for all affected Schools are provided to the Compliance & Safety group for their use.

Asset Management System (AMS), School Infrastructure NSW.