Tamworth bush fire prone land check
Bush fire prone land in the Tamworth region is mapped by Tamworth Regional Council and certified by the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service. The council publishes its certified map as Bushfire Prone Land (2022), on the same map server as its flood layers.
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 Tamworth 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, Tamworth Regional Council's own copy of the 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 Tamworth 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. Tamworth Regional Council's website has no page of its own about the map; its planning certificates page notes that the certificate states whether land is bush fire prone.
Which Tamworth Regional Council bush fire prone land map is current?
The current council map is Bushfire Prone Land 2022, and 7,177 of its 7,192 polygons carry an update date of 28 July 2022; the rest keep older dates from the maps it was merged from.
The checker reads Bushfire Prone Land 2022 from Tamworth Regional Council's map service, checked on 24 September 2026, always beside the RFS map.
What do the categories on the Tamworth 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 council's copy was checked on 24 September 2026 it held 3,494 category 1 polygons, 3,034 category 2, 183 category 3 and 481 buffer polygons.
Do I need a BAL assessment to build in the Tamworth region?
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 Tamworth Regional 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 Tamworth 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. Tamworth's current map dates from 2022, and a few of its polygons still carry dates from the earlier maps it replaced.
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. Tamworth Regional Council's section 10.7 planning certificate states whether the land is bush fire prone, and it is the formal answer. Order one through Tamworth Regional Council planning certificates.
Where does this information come from?
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.