Maitland bush fire prone land check
Bush fire prone land in Maitland is mapped by Maitland City Council and certified by the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service. The council publishes its current map as Bush Fire Prone Land 2025, with an earlier certified map beside it.
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 Maitland 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, Maitland City Council's own copy of the map and its 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 Maitland 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. Maitland City Council's home improvements and building page points to the RFS mapping tool, and its Maitland maps page links a council map of bushfire prone areas.
Which Maitland City Council bush fire prone land map is current?
The current council copy is titled Bush Fire Prone Land 2025, and 1,334 of its 1,361 polygons carry an update date of 10 August 2026, the same date the RFS statewide map gives Maitland land. The earlier Bush Fire Prone Land (2023) copy, most of whose polygons are dated 18 November 2021, is shown as a former map.
The checker reads Bush Fire Prone Land 2025 and Bush Fire Prone Land (2023) from Maitland City Council's map service, checked on 24 September 2026, always beside the RFS map.
What do the categories on the Maitland 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. Both Maitland copies code the categories exactly as the RFS does, and the council licenses them under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0.
Do I need a BAL assessment to build in Maitland?
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 Maitland City 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 Maitland 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. Maitland's copy titled 2023, whose polygons mostly date from November 2021, was followed by the 2025 map now in force.
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. Maitland City Council's section 10.7 planning certificate states whether the land is bush fire prone, and it is the formal answer. Order one through Maitland City Council property certificates.
Where does this information come from?
- Maitland City Council bushfire mapping, the map service the Site Checker reads
- Maitland City Council, home improvements and building
- Maitland City Council, Maitland maps
- 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
- Maitland City Council property certificates
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.