Rain in Qld bushfire hotspots helping but ‘no complacency’, warns QFES chief

Western and Far North Queensland are not yet in the clear from spring bushfires as they await much-needed rain, the weather bureau warns.

Rain across Queensland’s bushfire hotspots has given firefighters a boost, but the state has been warned against complacency.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Superintendent James Haig said crews appreciated the rain across the Southern Downs on Sunday, but the region was not out of the woods.

“The rain was useful. but it won’t have put the fires out completely; what it has done is provide us with the opportunity to do a lot of good work in preparation for bringing the fires completely out,” he said.

“Now we’re doing lots of work on the ground, and at the same time we’re trying to strengthen containment around the key fires at Wallangarra and Dalveen.”

He said a contingent of firefighters from NZ was due to arrive on the Darling Downs on Tuesday as crews were working to map options for bringing in the final containment lines using heavy machinery.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Superintendent James Haig.

“A lot of arduous work is being done – it’s rough country as you probably can appreciate – so we’re doing a lot of the work there, but we’re also doing a lot of work with heavy plant as contingency,” Mr Haig said.

“So it’s about fallback positions and so on to do our very best to minimise any future impact from any of these fires.

“The weather has been very much appreciated, but it’s not been sufficient to put the fires out.”

While the fires remain burning, the increased humidity and absence of significant wind will prevent the fires from spreading quickly.

“There’s no cause for complacency at this end, but at the same time, very much good news that we had this improved weather,” Mr Haig said.

Weather bureau meteorologist Steve Hadley said western and Far North Queensland were not yet in the clear from bushfires, as they awaited much-needed rainfall.

One of the homes lost in the fires around Dalveen, near Warwick, in the Southern Downs regional area near the Queensland to NSW border last week. Picture: NCA NewsWire/John Gass

“Places such as Mount Isa, where there has been fire action recently, get a better chance to

see some rainfall through Thursday and Friday, maybe even going into the weekend too, but

very isolated stuff,” Mr Hadley said.

“For the North Tropical Coast, around Cairns and Innisfail, there’s expectations of a few

showers up there, but it’s really only a slight chance.”

“That’s not going to do much when drier and hotter air returns, I think we’ll still see this fire

season still has something in it.”

After South East Queensland received rain at the weekend, Mr Hadley said the best of the rainfall had probably passed.

“Your next chance of seeing some rainfall will probably be early next week where we might

see some showers and storm activity developing,” he said.

In southern inland Queensland, bushfire risks may be above average as wet and dry

weather will be evenly posed.

“Over the next three months we’re more likely than not too see hotter than average weather,”

he said.

“There’s a good chance to see unusually high temperatures so potentially more heatwaves to come which could elevate the bushfire risk as well.”