Residents remain on alert in southeast’s latest bushfire threat
Residents of the Sunshine Coast suburbs of Cooroibah, Tewantin, and Noosa North Shore are being told to leave immediatley or prepare to leave as dangerous bushfires approach.
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RESIDENTS of the Sunshine Coast suburbs of Cooroibah, Tewantin, and Noosa North Shore are being told to leave immediatley or prepare to leave as dangerous bushfires approach.
The progress of the fire has slowed in part due to a period of more favourable weather conditions, but a wind change is causing conditions to deteriorate once more.
Crews remain on the fireground fighting the fire, patrolling the area and monitoring the situation.
Firefighters across southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales face another testing day fighting bushfires on a number of fronts though slightly cooler conditions may assist firefighters but winds could still make their work difficult.
ROLLING UPDATES: FULL LIST OF BUSHFIRE WARNING
The fire danger is rated as Very High across the southeast and hot conditions are again expected, not as hot as yesterday, but likely to reach 31c, with southwesterly winds blowing at 20 to 30 km/h likely to fan fires.
Water bombing helicopters have joined the fight at Lower Beechmont. Still at emergency level but fire crews say conditions are helping them get the upper hand. @9NewsQueensland @9NewsGoldCoast pic.twitter.com/NtrgVxYCJg
— Jordan Fabris (@JordanFabris9) November 8, 2019
Residents in various areas across the southeast can expect smoke haze.
More than 50 fires were burning at one point on Friday in dry, windy and dangerous fire conditions.
Residents of Lower Beechmont, Noosa North and Thornton were told to evacuate overnight. Conditions have improved since yesterday, but over 30 fires continue to burn across the state.
Police are urging motorists to limit all uneccessary travel, to keep roads as clear as possible for emergency services.
Disaster tourists have been warned to stay out of Queensland’s dangerous and fast moving fire zones.
“With a number of fires burning throughout Queensland police are reminding motorists to limit unnecessary travel and keep roads clear for emergency services” Queensland Police have urged.
“Fires by their very nature are unpredictable and motorists travelling through active bushfire areas could easily find themselves in quickly changing and dangerous situations.
“If you live near a active bushfire area please limit all non-essential travel and re-think your need to be on the roads.
The fires burning in NSW & Queensland are simply terrifying. To those Australians who have lost everything, we are devastated at your loss & we’ll be there to support & rebuild. To all those in affected areas stay safe & please listen to & follow emergency services instructions.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) November 8, 2019
Our fire & emergency services in both states are responding with great courage & professionalism. And the country is coming to their aid. Here you can see more SA volunteers heading off from RAAF Edinburgh to Port Macquarie to help fight the devastating bushfires in NSW. pic.twitter.com/upE4splBwn
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) November 8, 2019
“Driving conditions can be dangerous due to hazards such as burnt out trees over road ways, fallen power lines, smoke and dust. Please remain vigilant.
“Emergency services are working together to return affected residents to their homes however this can only occur when the risk of fire has been mitigated.
“This is a timely reminder to be ready to follow your bushfire survival plan. If you do not have a plan, or intend to leave, you should be ready to leave the area because situations can get worse quickly.
“It is important to notify friends and family of your bushfire survival plan. As well as checking on your neighbours, in particular the elderly community.”
Police declared an emergency at Lower Beechmont in the Gold Coast hinterland early on Saturday as a bushfire bore down, threatening homes. Residents in its path were ordered to evacuate to Nerang. The fire threat in the area was downgraded significantly this morning, but authorities are warning residents who have evacuated not to return to their homes until they are told it is safe to do so.
#BREAKING: @NSWRFS has announced a deceased person in a car has been discovered near Glen Innes in the wake of the bushfire devastation.
— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) November 8, 2019
Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers has the details.#LIVE blog: https://t.co/rWOEttqbYR #9News pic.twitter.com/2VpuYPaZmG
At least 100 homes have reportedly been destroyed in NSW and people are trapped in their houses as unprecedented conditions stretch firefighters. #NSWfires #7NEWS https://t.co/XrGg4tKr0H
— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) November 8, 2019
An emergency was also declared in Cooroibah on the Sunshine Coast on Friday, as people there were evacuated.
Noosa Mayor Tony Wellington said the situation was “very volatile” early on Friday night.
The fast-moving fire was keeping emergency services on their toes as the winds were changing direction, he said.
“It’s going to be a long night, it’s going to be a distressing night,” Mr Wellington said. “My sympathies go out to everyone.” Cooroibah resident Denyta Eaton fears for the horses she left behind when fleeing her home with her brother and parents.
#BREAKING: Firefighters have discovered a deceased person in a car near the fire in Glen Innes. #9Today pic.twitter.com/lEUKvxZBAS
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) November 8, 2019
The family took their dogs but they had no time to walk the horses out. A neighbour cut the fence to prevent the horses, Codyand Effy, being trapped. “There was so much smoke we could barely breathe,” she said. People in the path of a fast-movingbushfire at Tarome in the Scenic Rim area were also advised to evacuate.
Bar manager at the nearby Aratula Hotel, Leanne Brown, says there were actually two fires burning on either side of the townbut the Tarome blaze was the bigger concern due to the wind direction.
“It’s coming through fairly quickly,” she said on Friday. Ms Brown said the local sports centre had been opened as anevacuation centre and police were stopping cars going into Tarome, five kilometres away. “It’s quite daunting at the moment,” she said.
Residents in Thornton and Lefthand Branch, south of Laidley, were also told to evacuate late on Friday while people in Clumber,Noosa Banks, Jimna, Laidley Creek West and Mulgowie were advised to prepare to leave.
Residents at Buccan, south of Brisbane, were also urged to prepare to leave on Friday before fire crews got finally got theupper hand and contained the blaze. A cool change should bring cooler temperatures to much of southern Queensland by Saturdaymorning, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jess Gardner said. But fresh winds can make firefighting difficult, she added.
Hotter temperatures, which have fanned the flames around the south of the state, are expected to move further north today.
List of alerts and evacuations for bushfires
Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast evacuated, Brisbane near-miss, multiple fires rage in southeast
Noosa hinterland home burns as blaze rages towards Tewantin
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Firefighters were yesterday stretched to the limit with strong winds, scorching temperatures and tinder-dry conditions fanned flames, damaged at least one home and forced thousands of people to evacuate when fires came within kilometres of Brisbane’s city centre.
Over the border in NSW, schools were closed and thousands were taken out of harm’s way as dozens on bushfires burned across that state.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services battled multiple blazes stretching from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast.
Last night a fire burning out of control at Cooroibah on the Sunshine Coast forced authorities to evacuate nearby Tewantin.
There were reports at least one home had been damaged.
Further west in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, residents were last night evacuated from Jimna as a fire front bore down on the small town surrounded by rugged bushland.
Residents were last night sheltering in nearby Kilcoy hoping no homes would be lost.
Even suburban Brisbane wasn’t spared from the fire emergency, with a suspicious blaze threatening homes in the western suburb of The Gap.
Ashgrove Station Officer Antony Flint said The Gap fire blazed for nearly two hours, and at times had firefighters “stretched to the limit”.
He said the fire could have been deliberately lit.
The Gap residents were fighting to protect their homes, using garden hoses, he said.
Local resident Jim Parsonage said he was shocked to see the fire so close to his home on Birkridge Place, having never seen anything like it in the area.
“I could smell smoke, it was very thick smoke, it was a scrub fire and then it just accelerated,” he said.
“It was very severe, everyone was out in their yards trying to see if it was going to spread.”
A similar story also unfolded in Buccan, south of Brisbane, where residents were force to deal with two fire emergencies yesterday in the space of about three hours.
Hundreds of residents were told to leave their properties for about two hours while firefighters dealt with a bushfire along Buccan Rd.
At the same time firefighters and police were called about a kilometre away to Wilson Rd where a house fire had been suspiciously lit.
One resident on Wilson Rd described the situation as “crazy”.
“We’ve got a bushfire over there and a house fire here and we don’t know whether to evacuate or not,” the resident said.
Evacuation warnings were also in place for residents in the Lockyer Valley, where out-of-control blazes are still burning south of parched Laidley and Tarome.
Residents of Lower Beechmont in the Gold Coast hinterland were also told to evacuate last night.
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