Coffs Harbour bush fire prone land check
Bush fire prone land in Coffs Harbour is mapped by City of Coffs Harbour and certified by the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service. The council copy the checker can read is a map certified in November 2020, now superseded, so the RFS statewide map is the current reading for Coffs Harbour land.
Type an address below to see which category, if any, the block is in on each map, with its source and date.
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Is my Coffs Harbour property bush fire prone?
It is if any part of the lot is on the certified bush fire prone land map, in category 1, 2 or 3 vegetation or in the buffer around it. The Site Checker above reads the NSW RFS certified map, City of Coffs Harbour's former map, and the NPWS record of past fires, and shows each answer separately. A lot on none of them reads "Not on the bush fire prone land map", a statement about the map and nothing more.
Where is the Coffs Harbour bush fire prone land map?
The map that counts is the statewide one the NSW RFS certifies, which you can search on the NSW RFS website or view on the NSW Planning Portal spatial viewer. The City of Coffs Harbour's website does not say where to view the map. Its asset protection zone policy notes that development on land designated bush fire prone must consider bush fire.
Which City of Coffs Harbour bush fire prone land map is current?
The current Coffs Harbour map is the one the RFS statewide layer dates 24 December 2025, which the checker reads from that layer. The council copy it can read, Coffs Harbour Bushfire Prone Land certified 2020, has most of its polygons dated 2 November 2020, so it is shown as a former map, never as the current control.
The checker reads Coffs Harbour Bushfire Prone Land certified 2020 from City of Coffs Harbour's map service, checked on 24 September 2026, always beside the RFS map.
What do the categories on the Coffs Harbour map mean?
Category 1 is forest, woodland, heath, forested wetland and timber plantation. Category 2 is rainforest and lower risk remnant vegetation. Category 3 is grassland, freshwater wetland, semi arid woodland, alpine complex and arid shrubland. The vegetation buffer is land within 100 m of category 1 vegetation or 30 m of category 2 or 3 vegetation, and there is no category 4. When the 2020 copy was checked on 24 September 2026 it held 966 category 1 polygons, 1,762 category 2, 326 category 3 and 217 buffer polygons. The council also publishes four draft maps from 2025, which the checker never reads.
Do I need a BAL assessment to build in Coffs Harbour?
Usually, yes, if any part of the lot is on the map. A Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) sets the construction standard for a new home under AS 3959, and a bush fire consultant or the NSW RFS assesses it for the site from the vegetation, the slope and the distance between them. Building on bush fire prone land must also meet Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019, which City of Coffs Harbour or your certifier applies. The map tells you an assessment is needed, not the level, and the Site Checker never gives or estimates a BAL.
Why is my block mapped when no fire has come near it?
Because the map is drawn from vegetation, not from fire history: a lot is mapped for what grows on it or near it. The Site Checker shows the NPWS Fire History, the fire boundaries NPWS holds back to 1920, as a separate line, and no recorded fire is not proof that none has reached the lot.
What else do people ask?
Can the Coffs Harbour bush fire prone land map change?
Yes. Councils redraw the map as vegetation and development change, and a new version takes effect once the Commissioner of the NSW RFS certifies it. Coffs Harbour's map moved from the copy certified in November 2020 to the one the RFS dates 24 December 2025, and drafts prepared in 2025 sit beside them on the council's services.
Does a buffer finding mean there is bushland on my block?
No. The buffer is land within 100 m of category 1 vegetation or 30 m of category 2 or 3 vegetation. A lot in the buffer is near mapped vegetation and does not have to carry any itself.
Is this the same as a section 10.7 planning certificate?
No. City of Coffs Harbour's section 10.7 planning certificate states whether the land is bush fire prone, and it is the formal answer. Order one through City of Coffs Harbour certificate requests.
Where does this information come from?
- City of Coffs Harbour bushfire mapping, the map service the Site Checker reads
- City of Coffs Harbour, asset protection zone policy
- NSW RFS, check if you're in bush fire prone land
- NSW Planning Portal spatial viewer
- NPWS Fire History, wildfires and prescribed burns, on SEED
- City of Coffs Harbour certificate requests
This page and the Site Checker are general information from published maps. They are not a Bushfire Attack Level assessment, a bush fire certificate, a section 10.7 planning certificate or a survey, and they do not replace advice from the council, the NSW RFS, a bush fire consultant, your certifier, a lawyer or your own designer.