Fire north of Rockhampton tears through thousands of acres of land

About 50 firefighters worked to control a large inferno that ravaged up to 3000 acres of land north of Rockhampton. WATCH THE VIDEO.

A smoke warning is still in place after fire ravaged up to 3000 acres of land north of Rockhampton from Thursday, September 14 midday through to Friday, September 15 and placed properties along Meldrum Rd, Glendale under threat.

The raging inferno consumed large swathes of land at the Capricornia Correctional Centre and Belmont’s research station.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) area director Matthew Eckhardt said 22 crews consisting of about 50 people worked to put the fire out when it was at its peak.

More than half of those were volunteer rural firefighters.

A bulldozer was also used to put the fire out.

Mr Eckhardt said they all worked through Thursday night and into the early hours of Friday morning to stop the “out-of-control” blaze, which he estimated to be between 2500 acres and 3000 acres in size.

He said the fire would burn in some areas for the next couple of days so a smoke warning was put in place.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman said Capricornia Correctional Centre was back to operating “business as usual” and there were “no evacuations from the centre at any time”.

Mr Eckhardt is encouraging people to be prepared with fire season underway.

He said the rain from the past couple of years had created a lot of fuel in the form of dry vegetation at this time of year.

“It’s this time of year people should have their bushfire plan ready,” he said.

Mr Eckhardt suggested people check the QFES website for bushfire plan examples and encouraged people to be careful while doing things that can cause fires, such as slashing, welding, and using barbeques.