Fire and Emergency and Lincoln University launch low flammability plant directory on checkitsalright.nz

The new user-friendly Low Flammability Plant Directory allows people to filter by plant type, use and form, helping to identify the right plants for their property from a database of almost 500 plants.

Planting low flammability species is a key way for land owners and managers to create a defensible space around their house or other structures to reduce the wildfire risk.

‘Choosing less flammable plants can starve a wildfire of fuel and reduce the intensity of the fire which helps protect buildings and people,’ says Wildfire Manager Tim Mitchell.

‘Many factors can influence the flammability of plant species such as age of the plant or drought conditions.’

Fire and Emergency’s collaboration with Lincoln University involved testing plant species using their ‘Plant BBQ’. Researchers put cuttings on plants on the BBQ to test how long it takes the vegetation to ignite. The tests were predominantly carried out during summer, to match the conditions when New Zealand is at greatest risk of wildfires.

This research has informed the updated guidance on plant flammability and the list of species featured on checkitsalright.nz(external link). The information will help people make informed decisions about what to plant, as well as help them assess the vegetation they already have for fire risk.

‘If you have high flammability plants you can use this tool to plan which species to use for perimeters or interplanting to reduce the fire risk of the higher flammability plants,’ says Tim.

‘We want to make it easier for landowners, whether commercial or domestic, and landscape architects to choose from a wide variety of plants but still be able to reduce their fire risk.’

Lincoln University is doing further research on interim and perimeter planting to provide more guidance around how to use it to reduce fire risk, which will be added to checkitslaright.nz, once available.

Visit the Directory(external link)

We acknowledge the teams at Lincoln University and the University of Auckland for testing and making available the plant flammability rankings used in the directory.