Hornsby bush fire prone land check
Bush fire prone land in Hornsby Shire is mapped by Hornsby Shire Council and certified by the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service. The council copy the checker can read is the 2014 map, now superseded, so the RFS statewide map is the current reading for Hornsby land.
Type an address below to see which category, if any, the block is in on each map, with its source and date.
NSW addresses only. Free, and no sign up.
Is my Hornsby 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, Hornsby Shire Council'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 Hornsby 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. Hornsby Shire Council's development on bush fire prone land page says the current map can be found on the council's mapping system and on the NSW RFS website.
Which Hornsby Shire Council bush fire prone land map is current?
The current Hornsby map is the one the NSW RFS certified on 14 July 2026, which the checker reads from the statewide layer. The council copy it can read is Bush Fire Prone Land 2014, dated 6 March 2014, so it is shown as a former map with that year, never as the current control.
The checker reads Bush Fire Prone Land 2014 from Hornsby Shire Council's map service, checked on 24 September 2026, always beside the RFS map.
What do the categories on the Hornsby 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. The 2014 Hornsby map has categories 1 and 2 and the buffer, and no category 3, and its edges carry a margin of the neighbouring councils' own mapping.
Do I need a BAL assessment to build in Hornsby Shire?
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 Hornsby Shire Council 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 Hornsby 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. Hornsby's map moved from the 2014 version the council still publishes to the one the RFS certified on 14 July 2026. A 2019 draft the council also publishes carries no certification, so the checker does not read it.
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. Hornsby Shire Council's section 10.7 planning certificate states whether the land is bush fire prone, and it is the formal answer. Order one through Hornsby Shire Council certificate requests.
Where does this information come from?
- Hornsby Shire Council bushfire mapping, the map service the Site Checker reads
- Hornsby Shire Council, development on bush fire prone land
- 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
- Hornsby Shire Council 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.