Understand your BAL Report

We will cover the most important areas of the BAL Report document to ensure you understand your BAL Report.

Page 2 features the Site Assessment Map, which indicates the current vegetation classifiable within 100-150m of your proposed structure, as shown below:

BAL Report Site Map

This shows your the BAL Ratings overall. Ratings of BAL12.5, BAL-19 & BAL-29 are in the buildable zone being low to moderate risk levels.

If you get BAL-40 or BAL-FZ you may need a BMP or BMS to mitigate the risk.

In some cases your rating may look high like the BAL-FZ below example:

BAL Report Map (Determined BAL-FZ)

In this case, the structure is in an area where we can reduce the rating by establishing an APZ (see APZ blog for more info) around the dwelling within the lot. There are TWO concerns:

1. **Determined BAL FZ Rating:** This rating was assessed on the day of the site assessment.

2. **Prescribed or Indicative BAL Rating:** This rating applies after modifying the APZ. As seen above, the determined rating was BAL FZ, as shown in the table below from the BAL Report.

BAL Report Determined BAL Table

You can achieve the prescribed BAL Rating of BAL-29 with an APZ of 27m surrounding the dwelling, as shown in the red table below:

BAL Report Prescribed BAL Table

The Map below shows what it looks like with an APZ of 27m. We now issue APZ information only with a BMS or BMP following FPAA directions.

BAL Report Map (Prescribed BAL-29)

To modify the APZ you will need approval from the Local Government Authority (LGA) by submitting a Bushfire Management Plan or Bushfire Management Statement.

You can call us anytime and we will be able to guide you through the process that is relevant to your site so you can understand your BAL Report.