Shutters in bushfire areas outside NSW

The national aim

The National Construction Code 2022 states what a house in a designated bushfire prone area is meant to achieve:

“A Class 1 building or a Class 10a building or deck associated with a Class 1 building constructed in a designated bushfire prone area is to provide resistance to bushfires in order to reduce the danger to life and reduce the risk of the loss of the building.”

NCC 2022 Volume Two, H7F4

Western Australia’s Building and Energy explains that the specific construction requirements for certain homes in designated bushfire-prone areas sit in the Building Code of Australia and in Australian Standard 3959. Under WA’s page, those construction requirements depend on the home’s Bushfire Attack Level (BAL), found by assessing what surrounds it, such as how the land slopes, the vegetation, and how near that vegetation is to other buildings or structures on the site.

Queensland

The Queensland Government says the state has adopted AS3959 – 2018, and that you should check with your local council whether your property is in a “designated bushfire prone area”. Its page lists the measures, in full:

“In the most extreme fire risk areas, measures required for new homes will include:”

• “A concrete slab.”
• “Exterior walls must be constructed of non-combustible materials such as brick veneer or concrete.”
• “Non-combustible material on the roof, veranda or deck.”
• “Sealed wall and roof joints to guard against ember attacks.”
• “Shutters made from aluminium or other non-combustible material, or toughened glass for windows.”
• “Door frames made from fire resistant timber, with a weather strip at the base.”
• “Metal rather than plastic external trimmings such as vents, guttering and down pipes.”

The shutter line offers toughened glass as the alternative, and the list is for new homes in the most extreme areas. The same page says the residential building standard applies to new homes or outbuildings, rebuilding, repairs to part of a building, and “Additions to home and outbuildings within six metres of a dwelling.” It also says there is no one answer, “rather a combination of methods is the best defence.”

Victoria

The CFA says embers are the main way homes are destroyed in a bushfire, and that radiant heat can break glass. Open, unscreened windows are an extreme risk in its words, because a window broken by heat lets embers in.

On shutters, the CFA makes two points. Bushfire window roller shutters can give some protection against embers. And shutters fitted over the window and its frame, in place of mesh screens, can protect even better, though they cost more.

South Australia

The Country Fire Service’s home preparation page has a section on shutters. It reads, in part:

“Another form of active protection for your home are metal shutters. Shutters can be pulled down over exposed windows or placed over skylights in the event of a fire.”

“Metal shutters provide protection from radiant heat.”

“They prevent windborne debris from shattering glass allowing sparks and embers to enter the building.”

“Be aware that although shutters increase your safety they do impede you from observing the progress of the fire once you have retreated inside your house.”

The same section warns that “Ordinary blinds used to shade your windows may be a fire hazard as these are often made of flammable material and may actually trap sparks and embers.”

Western Australia

Bushfire-prone areas in WA are designated by the Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner and shown on the state’s map. DFES says the latest version of that map took effect on 13 December 2025, with a four-month transition for newly designated areas.

Building and Energy’s advice on external doors and windows is that windows should be protected with metal screens or bushfire shutters, and sliding doors with corrosion-resistant metal screens or bushfire shutters. Where neither screens nor shutters are fitted, it says the glass should be toughened safety glass, and all external hardware for windows and doors should be metal.

For older homes it adds that building rules are generally not retrospective: a house built before its area was declared bushfire-prone may not have to be upgraded by law.

Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory

No fire service or building page for these three was found for this guide, so it says nothing about their rules beyond the national code. For Tasmania, the code’s own note on its bushfire performance requirement says:

“For additional requirements relating to bushfire prone areas, refer to the Director’s Determinations on Bushfire Hazard Areas – current versions available at www.cbos.tas.gov.au”

What a shutter does not do