Western Downs residents describe the terror as fire strikes in Tara again

A Tara resident has re-lived the moment her and her family saw a ‘big orange glow’ rushing towards their property, and how they alarmed neighbours just in time for the family to get to safety.

A Tara woman has described the moment her family realised a fire was headed straight towards their property, and revealed how they alerted unsuspecting neighbours.

On Sunday, February 12, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services alerted the Tara region to prepare to evacuate their homes as a fire had begun to spread throughout various areas, threatening bushland along Chinchilla Tara Rd, Terese Rd, Weitzels Rd and South Rd.

Tara resident Lillian Bishop, said her, her partner Shane and two grandchildren were packing up the car on Sunday afternoon at their Charles Drive property to head to Brisbane before noticing the fire rushing towards them.

“My partner came up (to the house) and yelled there was a great big orange glow on the road,” she said.

“It was coming down quite fast. You could hear it and see it rushing, so we got out of there as quick as we could.

“The wind was swirling hot wind, you could see the flames sitting there and it would all of a sudden fire up.”

The Bishop property on Charles Dr, Tara following the devastating fire February 14 2023. Picture: Contributed

The Tara local said if it weren’t for her family having been outside at the time, they wouldn’t have known it was headed towards them.

“A lot of the fire that travelled was a canopy fire,” she said.

“The canopy fires were twice as high as the trees.

“Had we been inside watching TV and not outside where we were, it would’ve went through our property before we realised it was there.

“It was that fast.”

Mrs Bishop said the day was extremely hot, so many residents were inside with the airconditioning on unable to hear the carnage that was building up outside.

“My partner Shane went running around, knocking on doors and blasting (car) horns to let people know,” she said.

The Bishop property on Charles Dr, Tara following the devastating fire February 14 2023. Picture: Contributed

Like many others, Mrs Bishop and her family have been unable to go back to their home and fully access the damage, as the areas have been blocked off by emergency services due to fallen power lines, trees and debris that could impact the safety of locals, however with the help of neighbours they had been sent photos of their property.

“We were very lucky at our place, none of our structures have gone but a lot of building materials and fences are gone, so there will be a lot of rebuilding,” she said.

“But we were very lucky.”

Due to the fallen power lines that have turned to ash following the fires, Ergon Energy have extra crews on the scene assessing the damage.

An Ergon Energy spokesman said that 50 of their customers were without power still in the Tara region, and they would likely not get it back until midday Wednesday, February 15.

Ergon Energy workers trying to restore power following multiple power poles burnt to ashes in Tara. Picture: Ergon Energy

Neighbouring the Bishop property, Kezz Cole was allowed back into her Charles Drive home late Monday afternoon, and shared with her neighbours the damage that occurred to their properties.

“At 4pm on Sunday we were told to leave, we stayed at the Tara Hotel for the night,” Mrs Cole said.

The Tara resident evacuated her home having to leave her animals behind.

“I was extremely stressed not knowing if the house was going to be okay,” she said.

“I had to leave my animals (five dogs, chickens, geese, ducks and fishes) behind because I didn’t have enough time to grab them all, so I was really concerned for them.”

Ergon Energy workers trying to restore power following multiple power poles burnt to ashes in Tara. Picture: Ergon Energy

She said her family, which included her five kids were able to return to the property yesterday afternoon to find no structural damage.

“The bushland is burnt though, it’s very charcoaled,” she said.

When she attempted school drop off this morning, Mrs Cole was met by emergency services who said if she left the area she would not be able to return.

As of 10am Tuesday morning, Queensland police service revoked the emergency declaration in the Tara area and have said investigations will continue on how the fires were caused.

Tara resident Lillian Bishop, who is also a JP, has welcomed locals to contact her on 0427 727 361 for those who need documents signed over the next coming months, as she will be at her Tara property.