‘These bushfires are crazy’: Byfield mum’s evacuation drama

People and pets flee before sunrise as bushfires rage across coastal hinterland

Ingrid, Kelly and Ivar Bratland were woken by police at 5am to leave their Byfield home

A NEWCOMER to Central Queensland, Kelly Bratland hasn't seen anything like the fires currently threatening homes around Byfield.

Her family was woken at 5am Sunday by police advising them to evacuate the 25-acre property they've rented since June.

Fire wardens ordered residents to leave Cobraball Road by 10am Sunday morning

"We lived in Chinchilla the past ten years where they got the big floods back in the day," said the Canadian-born mother of two, who sometimes works as a teacher's aide at the Byfield School.

"But these fires are crazy; I didn't realise they could travel so fast."

Emergency services have praised residents around the Adelaide Park, Bungundurra and Cobraball areas who have abided by the call to leave or, in some cases, to shelter at home.

Some, such as Ben Althoff, have arranged accommodation with friends in town.

Ben Althoff was given a small window to return to his property on Cobraball Road and collect belongings before 10am Sunday

"We've been in close contact with the fire wardens throughout the night," he told The Morning Bulletin as he left his home on Cobraball Road for the second time.

"We had to leave last night and, this morning, they said we had until ten o'clock this morning to get some gear from home and leave again."

The Bratland family, and their neighbour Loretta, hightailed it directly from Byfield to the fire evacuation centre at the basketball stadium on Cordingley St, Yeppoon.

Leaving all their possessions at home, they received an invitation from a Yeppoon local to share her home until the danger passes.

Other locals rallied to transport the Bratlands' dogs and cats to a temporary haven at the pound, leaving just the pet lorikeet Scout to take care of.

There are also reports that livestock, including horses, gathered at the Farnborough School overnight, while the workers at Cooberrie Park evacuated their wildlife.

With Sunday afternoon's easterly breeze starting to push the fire back into the south-west, and plenty of extremely dry timber in its way, emergency services speculate this fire crisis will not be resolved for some days.