Forest Fire Management Victoria’s bushfire risk management

Forest Fire Management Victoria’s bushfire risk management

Bushfires are a natural part of our landscape, but with the right planning and action, we can reduce their impact on communities, the environment and critical infrastructure. This page is your go-to resource for understanding how FFMVic manages bushfire risk on public land across Victoria.

What is FFMVic’s bushfire risk management program?

Leaves, small branches, long grass and undergrowth can fuel bushfires, making them faster, more intense and harder to control. Our bushfire risk management program helps reduce this danger by removing excess vegetation (or fuel), protecting communities, the environment and critical infrastructure.

We reduce bushfire risk in many ways – from delivering our planned burning and non-burn fuel management works, to preventing new ignitions through fire bans and campfire controls, early detection of bushfires from our fire towers and reconnaissance flights, aggressive first attack by aircraft, rappel firefighters and ground crews to keep bushfires small, community engagement and emergency warning systems such as the VicEmergency website and app to help Victorians stay safe from bushfires.

Our 2 main approaches to reducing fuel are:

1. Planned burning – a carefully planned and controlled process where low intensity fire is used to reduce dry vegetation such as leaves and small branches that can build up over time and make forests more flammable.
2. Non-burn fuel management – using techniques like mowing, spraying, constructing fuel breaks and maintaining public road networks to manage fuel in areas with steep slopes, high fuel loads or close to communities and critical infrastructure.

Why timing matters

We have a dedicated and professional team who monitors and prepares for opportunities to deliver planned burning and non-burn fuel management.

We use science and modelling tools to choose the right time and approach for delivery of our bushfire risk management program in each location or landscape, combined with our understanding of the ecological needs of our forests and the plants and animals that depend on them.

Before delivering a planned burn, our crews thoroughly assess the conditions, landscape and potential impacts on nearby communities, the environment and critical infrastructure.

We work closely with the Bureau of Meteorology to assess weather conditions, such as humidity, temperature and wind speed, and will only carry out burns when the conditions are suitable, and it is safe to do so.

Unexpected weather conditions can mean plans change at the last minute and a burn may not go ahead, even if communities have already been notified. When this happens, our crews will continue to monitor the conditions and re-schedule the burn for a later date.

Spring and autumn generally give our crews more opportunities to deliver our program as the weather is more stable and fire behaviour is manageable and predictable.

How we decide what to do

FFMVic’s bushfire risk management program is underpinned by a significant body of scientific evidence, built over more than 35 years. We acknowledge bushfire science is continually evolving, and we continue to invest in research and the best available science to inform our bushfire risk management program.

We use science and modelling tools to choose the right time and approach for delivery of our bushfire risk management program in each location or landscape, combined with our understanding of the ecological needs of our forests and the plants and animals that depend on them.

Planning ahead matters

Protecting communities from the risk of bushfires takes a lot of planning. Our bushfire risk management program creates a strategic network of fuel-reduced areas across the landscape where different areas are treated at different times.

By creating these fuel-reduced areas, we’re building protective corridors that make it harder for intense bushfires to spread.

Because it’s not just about one burn or one season – it’s the ongoing efforts of what’s been done in the past, what we’re doing now and how we plan future activities to protect Victorian communities, the environment and critical infrastructure from the threat of bushfires.

Understand why you see or smell smoke

Autumn is an ideal time for planned burning, but it’s also a time when smoke can come from many sources – burn-offs at home, stubble burning on farms, wood heaters and weather patterns that cause smoke to linger.

While planned burning does release smoke, it plays an important role in reducing dry vegetation that contributes to bushfires. Planned burning is low-intensity, controlled fire, which means people are notified in advance, allowing them to take steps to minimise their exposure to smoke.

We work closely with Country Fire Authority (CFA), Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and Bureau of Meteorology to keep the smoke impact from planned burns as low as possible.

Find out more about why you might see or smell smoke in your area.

Stay informed

You can register to receive notifications of upcoming planned burns at the Planned Burns Victoria website.

To register:

1. enter the town/city you want to be notified about or click on ‘search my current location’
2. click ‘subscribe to area’.

To learn more about how you can prepare your own property for the bushfire season, visit How to Prepare Your Property.