Bushfire attack level (BAL) assessment software
A BAL assessment classifies the vegetation around a site, measures the distance to it and the slope beneath it, and reads the bushfire attack level from AS 3959 — BAL-LOW, 12.5, 19, 29, 40 or Flame Zone. The report usually accompanies a development application, so every input has to be visible and defensible. SurveyThanks records each vegetation aspect as its own row, with photos and measurements, and builds the determination table from those rows.
Built for BAL assessors running teams of roughly 3–50 inspectors.
Sample BAL report
An illustrative excerpt. The site, readings and findings are fictional; the layout is yours to set.
BAL report
BAL determination — Method 1
- Site
- Lot 12, Fictional Ridge Road
- Fire danger index
- FDI 100
- Assessment date
- 5 October 2026
| Aspect | Vegetation / distance / slope | BAL |
|---|---|---|
| North | Forest, 38 m, downslope 0–5° | BAL: BAL-19 |
| East | Grassland, 22 m, flat | BAL: BAL-12.5 |
| South | Managed gardens, excluded | BAL: BAL-LOW |
| West | Woodland, 31 m, upslope | BAL: BAL-12.5 |
Fields captured on site
Your firm builds the form in-app, so these are a starting point rather than a fixed schema. Every field is captured on the device, with or without signal, and lands in the BAL report where your template puts it.
Site
- Lot and address
- Fire danger index
- Assessment method
- Map of the proposed building envelope
Per aspect
- Direction
- Vegetation classification
- Distance to classified vegetation
- Effective slope under the vegetation
- Exclusion reason (if low threat)
- Photos
Determination
- BAL per aspect
- Highest BAL adopted
- Conditions relied on
Standards the report works to
- AS 3959Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas
- Provides the vegetation classes, the determination method and the construction requirements for each BAL.
- Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019NSW Rural Fire Service — Planning for Bush Fire Protection
- The NSW planning document BAL reports for development applications in that state are prepared under.
Load the standards you hold into your reference library and the drafted prose is written against them rather than against a general model.
How the BAL report gets built
Capture it once, offline
Your firm builds the bushfire attack level assessment form in-app — 25 field types, nesting repeatable groups, compound AND/OR visibility rules, reusable modules and calculated fields. Field capture works with no signal: jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio all queue in an idempotent outbox that only clears once the server confirms receipt.
Link it to your buildings, fire compartments and rated elements
Enter buildings, fire compartments and rated elements once, as a register. Every one of your penetrations, defects and rectification items then points at a stored row rather than a name somebody typed — and the links survive a disconnected device.
Render your own template
The BAL report renders into the Word template you already use — your letterhead, your section order, your clause library — with conditionals, loops over repeats, composable sub-templates and photo grids.
Reviewed before it leaves
You write the review framework: a checklist of what a BAL report must contain, plus the prose standards you would mark a junior against. Link it to a report template and it runs every time that template renders. Each finding comes back graded info, minor or major, quoting the sentence at fault, and a person accepts or dismisses every one.
Because the structured submission behind the report is held too, the review is a comparison rather than a proofread: The report says sprinkler coverage is throughout; the form records the warehouse only.
Checks a fire safety framework usually carries
- Every rated element assessed carries a defect status, not just a description
- A BAL determination shows the inputs it was derived from
- Non-conformances cite the clause of the standard they fail
- Rectification items are specific enough for a contractor to price
Questions
- Does the app calculate the BAL for us?
- You record the inputs; the classification and the reading of the tables stay with the assessor. The report then sets the determination out per aspect so a reviewer can follow it.
- Can we record more than four aspects?
- Yes. Aspects are a repeatable group, so an irregular site with six vegetation fronts gets six rows.
- Can we mark the building envelope on a map?
- The form has a map field, so the site location and envelope are captured alongside the measurements.
What this is not
Worth knowing before you book a demo, so neither of us wastes the half hour.
- Not field-service dispatch. No timesheets, no parts, no inventory. Scheduling exists to get an inspector to a site.
- No signature capture. If your deliverable has to carry a signed sign-off on the artefact itself, this is not the tool yet.
- Field capture is what works offline — jobs, forms, photos, notes and audio. Reports, chat, scheduling and the inbox need a connection.
- No client portal. Reports go out as a file or a password-protected link.
Other fire safety work we cover
- Passive fire penetration surveysPenetration register
- Smoke detector testingDetector test register
- Sprinkler system inspectionsSprinkler test report
- Asset protection zone inspectionsAPZ compliance report
- Bushfire hazard reduction auditsHazard reduction report
- Evacuation diagram auditsDiagram compliance report
- Evacuation drill recordsDrill observation report
- Fire damper testingDamper test report
Other disciplines
Rebuild your BAL report in SurveyThanks
Bring the Word template you already send clients. If you are coming off another field-forms tool, a filled report can be uploaded, read field by field, and re-rendered into your template.