Fire crews have announced two major blazes in Queensland have been extinguished
A teen boy and girl have been charged with lighting a Sunshine Coast blaze, as police probe suspicious fires across the state and QFES crews attend several properties to douse fires where residents have flouted local fire bans. LATEST UPDATES
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TWO teenagers have been charged with deliberately lighting a fire on the Sunshine Coast that saw hundreds of residents evacuated on Monday.
Police will allege that a group of juveniles were in bushland off Koel Circuit when a fire was deliberately lit about 4.30pm on September 9.
The fire quickly spread southeast to Peregian Beach, damaging a significant amount of bushland before threatening houses, destroying one.
Emergency services battled the blaze for three days before being forced to evacuate.
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Residents are now allowed to return home, but a number of spot fires continue to burn in the area.
A 14-year-old Peregian Springs boy and a 15-year-old Coolum Beach girl have been charged with endangering particular property by fire.
Queensland police have warned the public of the dangers of lighting fires or committing acts of arson.
Investigations are continuing.
Meanwhile firefighters on the Sunshine Coast, exhausted from days of battling a major blaze in Peregian, are exasperated as local residents light backyard fires in defiance of fire bans.
A Queensland Fire and Emergency Service spokesman told The Courier-Mail brigades were sent to eight different properties on the Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg region alone after 5pm on Wednesday afternoon to douse fires.
In the worst instance, at 7pm on Wednesday, crews were called to a private residence in Peachester at 7pm after a man lit three stacks of wood.
During times of high fire danger, two brigades with multiple trucks are tasked to respond to any report of a lit fire, including those lit by unsuspecting residents.
The spokesman urged the public that any fire, no matter how small, was totally prohibited during total or local fire bans, even small blazes not requiring a permit.
According to the QFES website, local fire bans mean that:
- The lighting of fires in the declared fire ban areas are prohibited subject to any special conditions or exemptions
- All open fires are prohibited
- All Permits to Light Fire issued in the designated area are cancelled.
Superintendent Darryl Johnson called for calm from a community where some a furious that the fires may have been deliberately lit.
“Vigilante action or retribution is not what is asked for here,” he said.
Police are aware of rumours that looting occurred in the besieged seaside hamlet but have received no official complaints.
“So I’m quite confident that no one’s house has been compromised. There hasn’t been any theft of property,” acting Chief Supt Johnson said.
“I’m saying that if you have experienced that, please come forward.”
Police will maintain a constant presence in Peregian Beach over the next few days.
Detectives have dealt with almost a dozen suspected arsonists over the state’s devastating bushfires, as authorities warn that conditions could worsen tomorrow.
The weather bureau is predicting temperatures five to six degrees above average, coupled with high winds, could result in “very high fire dangers” in a state that is already reeling from multiple blazes.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said 10 of those fires were deliberately lit and in some cases, young kids had started a fire “for fun”.
As part of new Taskforce Overcross, which will assess potentially suspicious fires, two children have been charged with endangering property at Glenden while another adult has been charged with seven counts of unauthorised lighting of fires in Dalby.
A child has been cautioned about an alleged arson in Woodridge, while yet another has been referred to restorative justice on three counts of endangering property and one count of wilful damage at Pimpama.
Children have also been referred to restorative justice over fires at Ormeau, Torquay, Palm Beach, Deception Bay and Wavell Heights, while an adult was given a notice to appear in court following unauthorised lighting of fires in Rockhampton.
“In some cases, it’s just young kids lighting a fire for fun, that fire has gotten away and obviously impacted in some ways very badly,” Police Commissioner Carroll said.
“Others, kids have gotten together and purposefully lit fire and in other cases there have been obviously recidivist offenders around arson.
“So all the circumstances are very varied … and the police have dealt with them appropriately.”
As far as the weather goes there’s little hope of a reprieve from Queensland’s bushfire crisis, with forecasters saying there’s no chance of rainfall in already parched regions of the state.
While conditions are milder today, tomorrow and Saturday are expected to bring stronger wind and warmer weather with a higher fire danger.
Brisbane is heading for a top of 25C today with light winds, but tomorrow’s forecast maximum is an unseasonably warm 30C with winds between 25 and 35km/h.
BOM meteorologist Livio Regano said forecasts provided little hope of any significant rainfall in Queensland except for the far north.
“It’s basically as dry as a chip,” Mr Livio said.
“Because we won’t get any rain, when the winds get up there’s an increased fire danger.”
“Tomorrow and Saturday, the fire danger will be up to very high again because of the winds.”
BOM is forecasting tops of 25C in Stanthorpe, 28C in Noosa (near Peregian), and 29C in Nerang tomorrow, with winds above 25km/h.
When asked what rainfall Queensland could expect in the next week, Mr Livio responded “none sorry, nowhere, except far north Queensland.”
He said fire dangers were moderate early next week, before becoming more dangerous later.
“Late next week, it gets quite hot. Any time it gets hot, there will be higher fire danger.”
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