Updated
Two more "watch and act" warnings have been issued in central Queensland, as more than 100 bushfires burn across the state.
Key points:
- A community meeting will be held on North Stradbroke Island as authorities monitor bushfire threat
- Three "watch and act" warnings are in place for Captain Creek, Lowmead and Curtis Island
- The fire has now burnt through more than 520,000 hectares
Residents in Curtis Island have been told to prepare to leave, while a "watch and act" has also been issued for the Lowmead area and Captain Creek, north of Deepwater.
Despite very hot conditions today, Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecaster Adam Blazak said the extreme temperatures would start to ease across the south-east from Tuesday.
"Thankfully though we will be seeing temperatures drop away," he said.
"From the south-east tomorrow (Tuesday) and that will gradually spread up the state throughout Wednesday, and by Thursday, most of the state should be back to reasonably average temperatures for this time of the year.
"But today is going to be another heavy day for firefighters and just people dealing with the heat."
Mr Blazak describes it as "rain lotto".
"Some places are going to score very high rainfall while other places will miss out," he said.
"They will be slow moving with possibly heavy rainfall leading to localised flash flooding — but it won't be widespread."
The main area of concern on Monday has been around Deepwater and Baffle Creek in Central Queensland and at North Stradbroke Island.
Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford said there were about 500 interstate firefighters on the ground on Monday.
"By Thursday all of those interstate crews should have rotated out and gone home. We are not expecting to need more crews beyond Thursday," he said.
He said the fire threat had been unprecedented and it is coming to an end.
"We are nearly there — once we can get through to about Wednesday this whole heatwave will subside," he said.
Wind change at Stradbroke Island to bring increased smoke
Emergency services were closely monitoring a fire on North Stradbroke Island which broke out several days ago, and is blanketing south-east Queensland in smoke.On Monday afternoon QFES downgraded its warning level on the fire, but urged locals to stay informed.
It is not threatening properties, but there has been concern for neighbouring islands — given the smoke and windy conditions.
Water bombing continued on Monday, but there was no backburning due to a change of wind direction.
The fire has been burning since last Wednesday after a dry lightning strike in the inaccessible 18 Mile Swamp, on the eastern side of the island.
It is the same location as the 2013-2014 fire that resulted in resident evacuations and went on to burn more than 70 per cent of the island.
Fire has now burnt through more than 520,000 hectares across the state.
Deepwater residents still not able to return five days on
Authorities said some residents in the Deepwater area south of Gladstone had ignored advice not to return to their properties.Gladstone Mayor Matt Burnett said authorities had hoped to allow Deepwater residents to return to their properties on Monday, but the fire broke containment lines again.
"There shouldn't be anyone in that area, but they've snuck back in. So at the end of the day, they've been evacuated. It took five days to evacuate that area," he said.
"The Eurimbula fire has created a whole other issue for us, but luckily we have those air assets … without them, I can't imagine where we'd be."
Councillor Burnett said it was not yet possible for people who lived in the Deepwater area to return home.
"The district disaster coordinator will assess during the day and if it's safe to do so we will allow people to go home," he said.
On Monday afternoon, a Watch and Act warning remained in place for the nearby Captain Creek bushfire, with residents near Agnes Water advised to be ready to follow their bushfire survival plan.
An unpredictable fire is burning in a south-easterly direction towards Davies Road, Oyster Creek Dam Road, Creevey Drive and Murphy Road, to the north of Baldaw Road, and the fire is likely to affect this area.
Cyclone Owen predicted to miss Queensland coast
BOM confirmed Tropical Cyclone Owen had indeed formed in the northern Coral Sea, but that it was not expected to make a telling impact on the state's coast.The bureau's Bruce Gunn said it would be drifting slowly to the south-west and remain offshore, before weakening to below tropical-cyclone strength by Wednesday.
Fire and Emergency Services assistant acting commissioner for northern region, Michael O'Neil, said north Queenslanders must not be complacent during cyclone season.
"Clearly with the temperatures that we've been sustaining over the last couple of days, the water temperature is certainly up and that is also increasing the potential for storms and cyclones going through the Coral Sea, so we continually need to be prepared and get ready for them," he said.
Tributes for rural firefighter killed by falling tree
Tributes are being paid to a young man who died while preparing fire breaks on a central Queensland property.The 21-year-old died on Friday night when a tree fell on him south of Rolleston.
Police believe he had been cutting the tree with a chainsaw when it fell and trapped him.
Central Highlands Regional Council Mayor Kerry Hayes said the tragic loss was being felt across the region.
"He not only is a rural firefighter, but obviously the area he was working in [was] his home, and that's his community," Councillor Hayes said.
"He has a big family and obviously a long history with the region and those people are missing him very much."
Councillor Hayes said the community would rally around the man's family.
"But they're very much aware of the fact that they've got work to do as well and I know that at some point when we've got an opportunity to put tools down, we will take a bit of time to grieve properly and make sure that that support is strengthened around that family."
Mr Crawford warned about the need for vigilance after a significant disaster.
"We often see at the end of large-scale disasters like cyclones and bushfires people unfortunately lose their lives sometimes doing the right thing in the clean-up process," he said.
"The next seven days we really really have to be pretty tight knit on this … there is still a lot of danger left in a lot of these places."
No comments:
Post a Comment