What made her heart 'jump' into her throat?

Tina drives home to radio reports of fires around her home suburb.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: Tina Moore returned from holidays to find fires raging just metres from her Lakes Creek home. Picture: Jann Houley

DRIVING home from Airlie Beach Sunday afternoon, Tina Moore was listening to radio reports about bushfires around her home suburb of Lakes Creek.

"I thought that's kind of a large area; it's probably down the other end,” she said.

"We could see the smoke from the other side of the Caves. But when we came over the hill by the meatworks, my heart jumped into my throat.”

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Mrs Moore, who moved from Brisbane two years ago, chose the North Rockhampton area because it was "nice and quiet” but not too far from town.

But by five o'clock Sunday evening, flames were licking right up against the back of a house just doors down the road.

Water bombing continued until after sunset as Rural Fire Service officers visited residents to assure them the danger was still at advice level.

"The wind relaxed when the sun went down so we weren't on edge so much,” Mrs Moore said.

"But into the night you could see the little red embers burning up the hill.”

Like most residents around Lakes Creek, Mrs Moore has stashed her important documents and arranged alternative accommodation.

"Hopefully we don't have to use it but it's better to be prepared,” she said.

Originally published as What made her heart 'jump' into her throat?