Qld bushfires: Far north, Southern Downs remain on fire alert

Many of the bushfires burning across Queensland have been contained after a horror two weeks, but there remains some areas of concern.

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Residents of small communities in the state’s far north and Southern Downs were told to leave their homes on Wednesday night, just as many fires in the south of Queensland were beginning to be contained.

People living in parts of Silver Valley and Watsonville near Herberton on the Atherton Tableland were told to leave immediately in the afternoon, and at one point authorities were considering evacuating the hospital.

An evacuation warning was also issued late yesterday for Cherry Gully residents near Warwick in relation to a dangerous fire burning near Hopgoods Road, Elbow Valley.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there were 83 fires around the state on Wednesday, many which were under control.

“There were moves earlier that they may have needed to evacuate the Herberton hospital,” she said.

“But that has now not had to happen which is due to the amazing work which is happening by our men and women firefighters and rural fire service personnel assisted by police right across the state.”

The three areas of main concern for fire crews on Wednesday were Dalveen, south of Warwick, Herberton on the Atherton Tableland and the small township of Watsonville.

Ms Palaszczuk said 30 rural properties at Dalveen were being monitored and residents had been evacuated.

A house lost in the fires at Dalveen on the Southern Downs. Picture: John Gass/NCA NewsWire

She said it was an “unfolding situation” in Herberton and Watsonville.

Power was expected to be restored to Wallangarra on the Queensland border in the next 48 hours, while recovery work was underway around Tara, Ms Palaszczuk said.

The 600-person Wallangarra township was saved by fire crews on Tuesday afternoon, including help from a waterbombing plane from New South Wales.

Fifty-eight dwellings were lost in the Tara fires and 387 dwellings saved. There are still 42 people left in the Dalby evacuation centre, she said.

Eighty-four personnel from Victoria are travelling to the southwest and central Queensland to fight fires and 27 fire crew from New Zealand will arrive in the coming days, Ms Palaszczuk said.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Laura Boekel there was a weather transition underway in southeast Queensland.

“So we’re moving away from those hot, windy and dry conditions that we have been seeing for the last week,” she said.

“With that change we are seeing storm activity so the storms that we are seeing this afternoon are producing more rainfall than what we’ve seen over the past couple of days which is good news for the fire grounds.

“We saw 17mm in one hour at Jimna in the Sunshine Coast and 20mm at the Borumba Dam. So that’s telling us if we do see storms further south they’re likely to produce a little bit more rainfall than we have seen.

“Worth noting too that we do have warnings current for those storms, so they are producing winds, damaging winds and hail as well.”

Ms Boekel said there would be an increased level of showers and storms in the southeast in the next week.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaking after a Queensland Disaster Management meeting. Picture: David Clark

There was still high fire danger in North Queensland, she said, and in the next four days there would be high fire danger ratings in the Central West, North West and Channel Country.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services acting Commissioner Stephen Smith said fire crews and supporting emergency services had been extraordinary.

He urged people on the Tablelands to continue looking at the fire advice being released and said the situation was evolving.

“The Herberton fire itself is heading away from the Herberton community, it is at emergency warning level, so it is heading in a south-westerly direction towards properties but not to the Herberton community itself,” he said.

Mr Smith said firefighters were being rotated to manage their fatigue.

Queensland Police Service Deputy Commissioner Cameron Harsley said the danger level in some areas such as Tara was moving to a “recovery phase”.

Mr Harsley said police were investigating any reports of arson but said in many cases “people jump to the conclusion that it is arson, but often it is not arson” and started from natural causes.

Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said fodder was expected to become an issue for farmers in coming days and the Department of Agriculture had set up a bushfire fodder taskforce.

To access assistance primary producers are being urged to contact 13 25 23.

He said about 50 primary producers had already made contact and would be receiving help.

“At this point in time there will be five road trains of fodder heading to parts of Queensland. Two of those road trains will be heading to Carnarvon area, the other three to Burnett,” Mr Furner said.