Dirranbandi community comes together after threat of fire
A South West Queensland town has shown their community spirit with residents advised they can return home after they were told to evacuate as fire threatened the town.
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Residents of a rural Queensland border town saw a reprieve overnight as a change in conditions allowed them to return home.
Power and mobile communications have also been restored to both Hebel and Dirranbandi.
Evacuation alerts on Tuesday night forced hundreds to flee their homes as two fires threatened from the northeast and southeast sides, Balonne Shire mayor and local disaster management group chair Samantha O’Toole said.
At noon on Wednesday, the Queensland Fire Department advised that it was still not safe to return.
“The fire near Dirranbandi Hebel Rd is still burning. It is travelling towards Dirranbandi. If you left the area, it is not safe to return,” the warning read.
“Firefighters are working to contain the fire.”
Patients at the Dirranbandi Multipurpose Health Service were taken to St George Hospital on Tuesday night, South West Hospital and Health Service chief executive Dr Anthony Brown said.
“Following directions from the Queensland Fire Department for residents to evacuate Dirranbandi, we moved five aged care residents, two acute patients and seven staff to St George late last night,” Dr Brown said.
“The two acute patients were initially admitted to Dirranbandi MPHS yesterday as a result of various fire-related conditions, including smoke inhalation.
“They remain in St George Hospital in good condition.”
Mrs O’Toole said 76 people attended the evacuation centre at the St George Cultural Centre on Tuesday night, but she expected more sought refuge with friends and family, or camped at the St George Showgrounds.
A total of 421 Ergon Energy customers were without power, including businesses, residents and commercial operations, which also left the town without telecommunication.
At 10.45am, Ergon Energy advised that damage assessments have been undertaken on the section of its network that have been impacted by the bushfire.
“Damage assessments have been done on sections of the Ergon Energy Network where a bushfire swept through near Dirranbandi last night,” the statement from Ergon Energy said.
“Local crews started preparing new poles early this morning in anticipation and will be moving in shortly to start replacing 10 poles lost in the blaze.
“We’re hoping to have all customers back on midday Thursday, but there’s still plenty of hurdles in front of us.
“It’s going to be tough going for our crews working in heatwave conditions, and with fires still very active in the area, crews will most likely have to contend with other safety risks from wildlife on the move after the fire has been through.
“We have mobilised crews early this morning from Dalby, Roma and St George so we can stand the poles as quickly as possible and get power back onto customers, once everything has been checked to ensure it’s safe.
“We’ll keep you updated later today on our progress in getting power back on.”
In the meantime, Telstra, the Balonne Shire Council, and the Dirran Pub were providing generators for residents to reconnect and find respite.
“Telecommunications are currently out due to the power outage, which will be restored following the power being switched back on, however Telstra is currently acting to install a generator as soon as possible as an interim measure,” Mrs O’Toole said.
“Council is currently co-ordinating a generator for the Dirranbandi Civic Centre so that we can turn on the airconditioning to provide locals with a place of respite from the heat.”
As is often the case when hardship strikes a rural town, the community has come together to help battle the fire, and support one another.
The Dirran Pub has thrown its doors open to local residents in need of assistance.
“If you need a coffee or get a message to family come to the pub we have the generator going and free Wi-Fi,” the pub said on social media.
“Even if you need a shower, come on down to the pub we have you covered.”
Dirranbandi resident Thomas Cundy said it was great to see the community rally together to save the town.
“Great to see everyone pitching in helping to save Dirranbandi,” he said.
“If it wasn’t for everyone with their own machinery, that turned up to make fire breaks and everything else, like contractors, water trucks, tractors, plus all of the graders, I think there were six of them, plus the aeroplanes bombing from the air, I think the town probably would have went in a blaze of glory.
“Country communities. You can’t beat their spirit.”
Dirranbandi P-10 State School and Hebel State School were both closed on Wednesday due to the fire threat.
“School closed due to bushfires around Dirranbandi,” a statement posted to the Hebel State School Facebook page reads.
“Dirranbandi P-10 State School closed today. More communication to come. Please stay safe.”
Member for Warrego and minister for fire, disaster recovery and volunteers, Ann Leahy, thanked those involved in the emergency response.
“I want to thank the incredible firefighters, local council and first responders on the ground who have tirelessly worked through the night in response to the large fire in Dirranbandi,” Ms Leahy said.
“While fire activity eased overnight, today has presented challenging weather conditions.
“At this stage the warning level is not safe to return, but I’ll be visiting the teams on the ground as soon as safely possible.”
Deteriorating weather conditions could threaten the firefighting effort underway at Dirranbandi.
Long-term Dirranbandi resident and Toowoomba Region councillor Carol Taylor said Dirranbandi is a resilient community.
“They’ve got such a such a spirit out there, they are very self sufficient, very resilient,” Cr Taylor said.
“I grew up in Dirranbandi, I’ve got relations and friends out there.
“You can’t do anything, but you just, you just worry about them all.”
Ms Taylor also paid tribute to the Balonne Shire Council and the nearby township of St George for their support of the Dirranbandi community.
“The Balonne Shire Council is doing good work as well, they’ve got the evacuation centres set up,” she said.
“Up in St George, the bakeries, the accommodation houses, and everything else have just been so welcoming.
“The bakery has stayed open all night last night for the evacuees.
“It’s been a whole of community effort, really, to try to keep everyone safe.”
In the lead up to the fire, the Dirranbandi community rallied together at a Melbourne Cup charity luncheon.
Jacque Hemming also praised those that stepped up to help the community.
“A big shout out to the community and all those that came to the call of help,” she said.
“You came from near and far, some of you in your best outfits straight from the Melbourne Cup.
“Without you all this would have been way worse than it was.”
Currently, a Fire Weather Warning is active for the Channel Country fire weather district, with an extreme fire danger active for the region.
“Fresh and gusty northwesterly winds in the Channel Country, combined with very hot temperatures and dry conditions, will lead to elevated fire dangers on Wednesday,” the warning read.
However, BOM meteorologist Shane Kennedy advised conditions could further deteriorate.
“We do have a fire weather warning cut with extreme fire danger ratings for today,” Mr Kennedy said.
“Dirranbandi is forecast to hit 42 degrees today, while it is even hotter further west, with it possibly getting up to 45 degrees in Birdsville today.
“Winds aren’t quite as bad around Dirranbandi at the moment, they’re a little bit lighter, generally in that 15 to 20 kilometre range.”
However, Mr Kennedy advised that the threat of thunderstorms today could hamper firefighting efforts.
“There still could be a storm or two around which may complicate some of those winds, if you get a thunderstorm nearby, it can create some gusty and erratic winds, which can complicate those firefighting efforts,” he said.
Mr Kennedy advised that hot and windy conditions are likely to persist at Dirranbandi tomorrow, while a threat of thunderstorms also looms for tomorrow.
“We’ll see those hot and windy conditions push a bit further east and move more into the southern interior, including around that Dirranbandi area with the active fire,” he said.
“It’s already very hot, so the heat will be pretty similar tomorrow, generally in the low 40s, but we’ll have those windy conditions that are mainly in the far southwest today.
“With the increasing winds that’ll make it a bit harder to fight those fires.
“It will still be quite hot, and there should likely be a few more thunderstorms around tomorrow, which will be another complicating factor.”
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