Fire Management in Wellington Park

Bushfires in Wellington Park are inevitable. Unless suppressed when small and accessible, major bushfires will occur. Since European settlement severe fires have been recorded in the Wellington Range in 1806, 1851, 1897, 1914, 1934, 1945, 1967, 1983, 2001 and 2013. 

Approximately 90% of the Park was burnt in the ‘Black Tuesday’ bushfires on 7th February 1967. On this day, 110 separate fires across southern Tasmania burnt 200 000ha, including the higher terrain of the Wellington Range and into suburban areas of Greater Hobart.  In five hours, 1400 houses and 128 major buildings were burnt. Sixty-two people lost their lives and a further 900 were injured. 

Within the Park bushfires can damage and destroy infrastructure and cultural heritage, reduce scenic values and affect the quality and amount of water that can be extracted from the drinking water catchments in the Park. Although many of the plant communities in the Park benefit from occasional fire, some can be severely degraded by fire. Much of the vegetation in the higher parts of the Park is still recovering from the 1967 bushfires. 

In Wellington Park, fuel reduction burning, fire trail management and other bushfire risk mitigation activities are the responsibility of the designated Park Management Agency (City of Hobart, Glenorchy City Council or the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service). These activities are undertaken under permit from the Wellington Park Management Trust to ensure that Park values are maintained. In the event of a bushfire in Wellington Park, the Tasmanian Fire Service is the lead agency to fight fires.

During 2024-26, the Wellington Park Management Trust is working with the Tasmanian Fire Service, Glenorchy City Council, the City of Hobart and the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service to replace the Wellington Park Fire Management Strategy 2006 with a mosaic of three strategic bushfire management plans defined by tenure-blind, risk-based boundaries (see map). As at December 2025, the first of the three plans - Hobart and Glenorchy Area - is in final draft. The second - Wellington Range South - is in draft and is with agencies for review. The final plan - Wellington Range North - will follow early in 2026.

Sensibly, the plan boundaries do not conform to the Wellington Park boundary, but rather have been defined using 'source of bushfire risk to the priority Human Settlement Areas' identified in the Hobart and Southern Bushfire Risk Management Plans as a lead criterion. This work is supported by the Tasmanian Government's Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Grants Program.

The aim of the Strategic Bushfire Management Plans is to coordinate the activities of multiple land management agencies so that the potential for bushfire to impact the community and assets is reduced, and the suppression capabilities of fire management agencies is increased. The Plans include the following:

• modelled fire behaviour and impacts, including Modelled Ignition Cell Impacts, Modelled Ignition Point Impacts and Modelled Bushfire Intensity. The result is a series of maps identifying Human Settlement Areas at risk under different scenarios, to inform fire management strategies and mitigation program schedules.
• fire mitigation strategy - identifying Asset Protection Zones and Strategic Fire Management Zones across the Wellington Range. Where treatable fuels exist in each Zone, the Zone is broken down into individual Fuel Management Units, and the Zone is assigned a Fuel Hazard Rating Target and an indicative Planned Fire Interval is assigned to each Fuel Management Unit.
• fire management infrastructure - the network of existing fuel breaks and fire trails has been reviewed and a revised network is mapped, classified and has management criteria assigned.

In addition to this work, the Wellington Park Management Trust is also committed to the preservation or protection of the natural and cultural values of Wellington Park. These values are addressed as part of the assessment process when agencies apply to the Trust for permits required to undertake fuel reduction burns and and fire trail management works. 

The extensive bush-urban interface around the 140km boundary of Wellington Park presents significant challenges in community protection. Much of Wellington Park is not treatable by fuel reduction burns (see map) due to multiple factors. Park neighbours can reduce the risk of fire through simple preparation and precautions. Every neighbouring household should have a Bushfire Survival Plan and this must be implemented early. 

Visitors to the Park are reminded to observe fire restrictions during total fire bans as no fire places can be used during these periods. To minimise the risk to Park visitors and reduce the risk of bushfires, the Park will be closed on days with an Extreme or Catastrophic fire danger rating in either the South East or Upper Derwent Valley forecast districts.