Bushfire emergency warning issued for Dirranbandi residents
Residents of the small town on the Queensland border are able to return to their homes after being forced to flee following a 1700-hectare bushfire that threatened to destroy properties.
Residents of the small town on the Queensland border are able to return to their homes after being forced to flee following a 1700-hectare bushfire that threatened to destroy properties.
The Queensland Fire Department tonight advised the hundreds of Dirranbandi residents could “return with caution” after the evacuation.
Queensland Police have also revoked its emergency declaration under the Public Safety Preservation Act.
The declaration was made on Tuesday night.
Power and mobile communications have also been restored to both Hebel and Dirranbandi.
Earlier today, firefighters were working to keep the fire within containment lines.
“There’s still active fire burning and we’re working to keep that within containment lines,” the spokeswoman said.
“The fire is about 1700 hectares in size.
“Water bombing aircraft have been assigned to the fire and will be there later on today.”
Deteriorating weather conditions could threaten the firefighting effort underway at Dirranbandi.
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 north-westerly 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 42C today, while it is even hotter further west, with it possibly getting up to 45C 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 20km/h 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.”
The Balonne Disaster Management Group gathered at the St George Cultural Centre about 6am to assess what to do next, after a sleepless night for many Dirranbandi residents.
About 600 residents of Dirranbandi were told to evacuate to a centre in St George after Queensland Police declared an emergency under the Public Safety Preservation Act late on Tuesday night.
Chair of the Balonne Local Disaster Management Group and mayor of the Balonne region, Samantha O’Toole said no homes had been lost as of Wednesday morning, but due to a range of factors, the Dirranbandi township was evacuated on Tuesday night.
Mrs O’Toole said two fires were burning around the town, one to the northeast and one to the southeast on Tuesday night, which caused a power outage, resulting in disruption to communication lines.
“Overnight, we had 76 people attend the evacuation centre at St George Cultural Centre, with nearly all transferred to local accommodation,” she said.
A spokesman for the Balonne Shire Council said it was likely more than that had been displaced, with some opting to stay with friends or family, and others camping at the showgrounds at St George.
A Queensland Fire Department spokeswoman said the fire was still burning at Dirranbandi Hebel Rd and moving towards the township, but it had slightly eased.
“The fire near Dirranbandi Hebel Road is still burning,” the alert reads.
“It is travelling towards Dirranbandi. If you left the area, it is not safe to return.
“Firefighters are working to contain the fire.”
Queensland Fire Department issued an emergency alert for people in the Dirranbandi region in the Balonne Shire at 5.32am Wednesday.
At least eight fire crews remained at the fire front fighting the blaze, while aircraft were expected to be deployed again today.
The spokeswoman said firefighters would work to get the fire contained as soon as possible.
It comes after QFD spokeswoman said just before 9pm Tuesday: “An evacuation site has been set up at the St George cultural centre. The fire is still ongoing and not contained.
“No homes have been reported as lost at this stage.”
Residents were advised to evacuate Dirranbandi via Hebel Rd.
Ergon Energy said nearly 500 properties had lost electricity supply in Dirranbandi, Hebel, Mungindi, St George and Thallon.
“The loss of supply is due to damage requiring emergency repairs. Fault finding is in progress,” the Ergon Energy alert said.
The spokesman said as at 9.45am on Wednesday, 421 customers were offline, and in the conditions, he said there was no estimated fix time.
He said a customer could be a resident, motel, business, or even a bore pump, might limit access to water in some places.
The spokesman advised residents to keep an eye on Ergon’s outage finder, which can be found here, to stay up to date with outages in the area.
He said Ergon would work towards restoring power as soon as QFD advised it was safe to return to the area.
Ergon hoped to have power restored by Wednesday night, Mrs O’Toole said, and Telstra was working to install a generator to restore telecommunications.
Dirranbandi State School and Hebel State School were closed on Wednesday, and Dirranbandi Multipurpose Health Service took their patients to St George Hospital on Wednesday night.
South West Hospital and Health Service chief executive, Dr Anthony Brown, said: “Aged care residents, acute inpatients and staff from Dirranbandi Multipurpose Health Service have been evacuated to St George Hospital and are safe and well.
“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.
“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.
“There have been no other fire-related presentations at St George Hospital to date.”
District crime prevention co-ordinator for Roma Patrol Group, Sergeant Daniel Clarke, said two officers from Roma were on their way to Dirranbandi with a mobile police facility, to provide on the ground support.
He said the mobile facility, which had a generator and communications equipment, was equipped to assist in a disaster.
Sergeant Clarke said residents should seek assistance and shelter at the evacuation centre, at the St George Cultural Centre.
Between the threat of fire encircling the town, the smoke hanging thick in the air, and a heatwave gripping the region, conditions on the ground at Dirranbandi are punishing.
“We are expecting another 40C day of heat today, so we are urging people to be patient during this incident, as everyone if moving as quickly as possible to resolve this situation,” 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.”
Resident Olivia Hopkins said the town was without power as of 8pm on Tuesday.
“Right now the town of Dirranbandi is without power and no household has water, throughout the town,” she said.
“There is a thick smoke haze and we do have thick plumes of smoke and a hot flame glow happening on the outside of town.
“We still can’t leave Dirranbandi, it is not safe, all our roads are still closed but everyone is safe, but the town so far is safe.
“We are just waiting for further updates at this point.”
Earlier, it also sent an alert for people on Cubbie Rd, Bollon Dirranbandi Rd, Dirranbandi Hebel Rd and Narine Rd.
“Your life is in danger. You need to seek shelter immediately to survive,” the warning read.
Resident Olivia Hopkins said she was told to evacuate from Newtown to Old Town.
“The fire is right there,” Ms Hopkins said.
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“Our house is on the main drag, it’s the second house that you come to and the fire is right near our back fence, right now the town is full of smoke and we have no exit.”
Another local Ella Brien said she was holding a Melbourne Cup day event when she was told to leave.
As of 6pm, Ms Brien said the town was being “semi-evacuated.”
Originally published as Bushfire emergency warning issued for Dirranbandi residents
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