Adelaide Hills family gutted as bushfire shelter report backs SA planning rules
An Adelaide Hills family fears it will stay locked out of their bushfire bunker as a planning palava continues and as the fire danger season is brought forward in parts of SA.
SA News
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Daniel Katz is gutted to hear a state investigation into bushfire bunker approvals is backing the status quo, fearing it means his family will remain locked out of their $25,000 shelter in the Adelaide Hills.
“I feel gutted and right now I feel desperate, I know we will now not have last resort protection for my family and myself in a bushfire,” Mr Katz said.
An extensive report into the state’s planning laws came after Mr Katz told The Advertiser in September he was being threatened with an up to a $20,000 fine for failing to get critical planning approvals for his potentially lifesaving bushfire bunker.
The shelter was accredited in Victoria but Mr Katz has since learned no bushfire shelter products are pre-approved in South Australia.
It now remains padlocked on the isolated Adelaide Hills property in Bridgewater where Mr Katz lives with his partner and two children.
Mr Katz, 51, has now lodged an application to approve the bunker purchased from Wildfire Safety Bunkers.
It has received council approval and is currently waiting on another nod from PlanSA, but Mr Katz believed there was little hope of it winning that final step.
The Review of South Australia’s Development Approval Processes for Private Bushfire Shelters, released on Friday, was a new blow, after it deemed the current process in approving South Australian shelters “is effective”.
While the report found current laws are adequate, it recommended a new fact sheet informing South Australians of bushfire shelter planning rules be developed and that existing shelters are mapped.
Mr Katz was unhappy with the finding, claiming the process was “wasting taxpayers’ money” and that under those existing rules no bushfire bunkers had been approved in SA for more than 10 years.
Mr Katz said another bunker from the same manufacturer installed in SA was refused over concerns there was inadequate information provided about its specifications.
The report also found that private bushfire shelters must be a last resort and the Country Fire Service raised concerns about smoke entering bunkers and ongoing safety maintenance.
“Through the process of investigation and stakeholder engagement we believe that the existing system for approval of private bushfire shelters is effective,” the report said.
“We believe there can be additional improvements, post approval, in terms of a certificate of occupancy for class 10c private bushfire shelters as well as a maintenance regime.”
It also found “difficulties found to date in relation to the approval of private bushfire shelters appear to stem from the inadequate technical details being provided as required for the assessment, concurrence and therefore the approval of private bushfire shelters.”
Its recommendations are now being assessed by the state planning department and those findings will be sent to Planning Minister Nick Champion.
Mr Katz said that no authorities had visited Bridgewater to assess the shelter installed after the family “could see the smoke from our property” during the Cudlee Creek and Cherry Gardens bushfires.
“This is certainly nothing I plan to be in, but knowing I have this as a Plan D in my bushfire survival plan is important, I would like to have something if all else fails,” he said.
Mr Champion said the independent report “found the current approval process is effective and recommends additional steps to ensure shelters remain compliant and well maintained”.
“These recommendations are now being considered,” he said.
Early fire danger season for state after devastatingly dry spring
By Tara Miko
Fire danger season has been declared earlier for three regions as the state braces for the fallout of a dry and warm winter and spring.
The fire danger season has been declared earlier than usual for three districts while two-thirds of the state report dry conditions.
The Eastern Eyre, Flinders and North East and North West Pastoral districts dire danger seasons starts October 15, while the rating has also been brought forward for both the Lower and Upper South East districts to start on November 1.
Country Fire Service Community Risk and Resilience director Alison May said the outlook was based on the warmer and drier than average spring which depleted soil moisture.
“Even though when you’re driving around the Hills and in the south it might look green, but you pull out a plant and it’s pretty dusty,” she said.
“What that means for a fire danger season is we’re seeing vegetation cure more quickly.
“At the moment, for most of the state and particularly the northern two-thirds of the state, it’s already at 100 per cent cured.
“It is more visible for grasslands where you can see it is dry and brown but for the forested landscapes and mallee areas that might still look green, what we’re being told from our local counterparts is the understorey is quite dry, the soil is quite dry.”
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning there is an 80 per cent chance of above-average maximum temperatures across Australia.
Ms May said South Australia’s year-to-date temperatures had been “well above average” with some parts “in the extreme above average”.
“And in terms of moisture, for vast areas of the state, it is well below average,” she said.
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