Residents urged to update evacuation plans as 2024 fire season starts

Authorities are warning residents to update their evacuation plans and be mindful of the weather conditions after a permitted burn at The Glen near Warwick spread to nearby grassland and torched about 300 hectares.

The Queensland Rural Fire Service said there was still time for permitted burns, but urged landholders to check the conditions first. Picture: Zizi Averill

The 2024 Darling Downs fire season arrived this week, as a blaze ripped through 300 hectare of grassland at Warwick on Sunday.

While the fire is now under control, authorities are bracing for a hot and dangerous week ahead.

Temperatures in the Darling Downs are expected to reach the low 30s, with breezy days and warm nights.

Queensland Rural Fire Service Acting Chief Superintendent Shaune Toohey called on all landholders to be mindful of the fire conditions and reassess their fire evacuation plans.

“This year has seen those early westerly winds in late May and early June, they are not seasonable,” he said.

“That, accompanied with the high volume of fuel we have on the ground from the earlier rainfall, is making for a really dynamic fire season.”

The RFS and its partner agencies have rolled out several large hazard reduction burns over the winter

But A/Supt Toohey said more work was needed to prepare for summer and he urged residents to contact their nearest fire warden and apply for a hazard reduction burn permit.

“We do still have a lot of grass in and around the western parts of Southern Queensland up into the central areas,” he said.

“Check the conditions four or five days’ ahead of when you are planning to drop fire, to make sure you are well across the situation.

“You may want to light the fire today, but it will be the fire in three or four days’ time when we are going to have the issue.

“The last thing we want is for a community to be impacted through someone trying to mitigate the risk to their property and operating in good faith.”

The fire at The Glen started with a permitted burn that got out of hand on Sunday afternoon.

It jumped the New England Highway, creating multiple fire fronts that complicated efforts to control it.

This led to a Watch and Act alert, with residents urged to leave properties if under threat.

A/Supt Toohey said it was a timely reminder to prepare to evacuate if needed.

“What we saw on Sunday at The Glen, is that we were asking people to leave, that can be through self-relocation or a formal evacuation and a big part of that is having a bush fire survival plan ready,” he said.

“It allows households to have predetermined decisions to support them when those warnings come and the bushfires impact their houses.

To apply for a fire burn permit or to download a free bushfire survival plan visit: fire.qld.gov.au

Originally published as Residents urged to update evacuation plans as 2024 fire season starts