Constructing Fire Breaks

This guide provides land managers with advice on constructing and maintaining fire-breaks on the rural-urban interface, farms, pastoral leases and reserves.

What is a fire break?

A fire-break is a strip of land that has been cleared of all trees, shrubs, grass and other combustible material, providing a ‘fuel free’ area.

Fire-breaks are intended to allow access for firefighting vehicles and can provide a fuel free area from which prescribed burning can be undertaken.

They may slow or stop the spread of a low-intensity bushfire however they should not be relied upon to prevent the spread of a fire.

Fire-breaks are often constructed with a machine such as a dozer, front end loader, grader, tractor or skid-steer loader.

In some situations, a suitable fuel-free area may be created by other methods such as hand tools, ploughing, herbicide treatment, grazing stock and controlled fire.

For further information please click here.