Qld bushfires: Dalveen, The Glen residents urged to leave immediately, emergency warning
The Premier has given an updated on the “unfolding” bushfire emergency around Queensland. LATEST ALERTS
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has confirmed 83 bushfires are burning across the state, as authorities work desperately to control the worst of them.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Palaszczuk said the three main areas of concern were Dalveen, south of Warwick, Herberton on the Atherton Tablelands and the small township of Watsonville.
This story is free to read due to the danger posed by the fires to the local community.
“There was moves earlier that they may have needed to evacuate the Herberton hospital,” she said.
“But that has now not had to happen which is due to the amazing work which is happening by our men and women firefighters and rural fire service personnel assisted by police right across the state.”
Ms Palaszczuk said 30 rural properties at Dalveen were being monitored and residents had been evacuated.
She said it was an “unfolding situation” in Herberton and Watsonville.
Power was expected to be restored to Wallangarra in the next 48 hours, while recovery work was underway around Tara, Ms Palaszczuk said.
It was confirmed that 58 dwellings were lost in the Tara fires and 387 dwellings saved. There are still 42 people left in the Dalby evacuation centre, she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said 84 personnel from Victoria are travelling to the southwest and central Queensland to fight fires and 27 fire crew from New Zealand will arrive in the coming days.
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Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Laura Boekel there was a weather transition underway in southeast Queensland.
“So we’re moving away from those hot, windy and dry conditions that we have been seeing for the last week,” she said.
“With that change we are seeing storm activity so the storms that we are seeing this afternoon are producing more rainfall than what we’ve seen over the past couple of days which is good news for the fire grounds.
“We saw 17mm in one hour at Jimna in the Sunshine Coast and 20mm at the Borumba Dam. So that’s telling us if we do see storms further south they’re likely to produce a little bit more rainfall than we have seen.
“Worth noting too that we do have warnings current for those storms, so they are producing winds, damaging winds and hail as well.”
Ms Boekel said there would be an increased level of showers and storms in the southeast in the next week. There was still high fire danger in North Queensland, she said, and in the next four days there would be high fire danger ratings in the Central West, North West and Channel Country.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services acting Commissioner Stephen Smith said fire crews and supporting emergency services had been extraordinary.
He urged people on the Tablelands to continue looking at the fire advice being released and said the situation was evolving.
“The Herberton fire itself is heading away from the Herberton community, it is at emergency warning level, so it is heading in a southwesterly direction towards properties but not to the Herberton community itself,” he said.
Mr Smith said firefighters were being rotated to manage their fatigue and he also advised Queenslanders against backburning their own properties.
Asked whether the Herberton fire was threatening homes, Mr Smith said: “It is at an emergency warning level...it is heading in a southwesterly direction towards properties but not to the Herberton community itself”
Queensland Police Service Deputy Commissioner Cameron Harsley said the danger level in some areas such as Tara was moving to a “recovery phase”.
Mr Harsley said police were investigating any reports of arson but said in many cases “people jump to the conclusion that it is arson, but often it is not arson” and started from natural causes.
Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said fodder was expected to become an issue for farmers in coming days and the Department of Agriculture had setup a bushfire fodder taskforce.
To access assistance primary producers are being urged to contact 13 25 23.
He said about 50 primary producers had already made contact and would be receiving help.
“At this point in time there will be five road trains of fodder heading to parts of Queensland. Two of those road trains will be heading to Carnarvon area, the other three to Burnett,” Mr Furner said.
LATEST BUSHFIRE ALERTS
Resident at Cherry Gully, near Warwick, were on Wednesday evening told to “leave immediately”.
The alert follows earlier warnings for residents in Dalveen, The Glen and Silverwood.
Properties between the New England Highway, Warwick Killarney Rd and Cullendore Rd were in the warning area.
It released an updated “leave immediately” warning to more residents in The Glen at 11.30am as the dangerous fire intensified.
Properties between Granite Hills Rd, Rockland Rd, New England Highway and Crystal Mountain Rd have been urged to leave now.
The large, very dangerous fire is burning near the New England Highway and is expected to impact Pikedale Rd very soon.
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Residents are urged to leave now as it will soon be too dangerous to drive.
A “prepare to leave” warning has also been issued for areas surrounding the Dalveen fire.
Rural fire support officer Philip McCabe said resources have been stretched with worsening conditions around Dalveen.
He said the fire has had spread north across the New England Highway and was heading towards the western side of the highway.
“We’ve had to redeploy a lot of our equipment and personnel to deal with the jump over the highway,” he said.
Crews are working to protect several houses that are under threat on the western side of the highway.
Residents in Rosenthal Heights and Morgan Park, south of Warwick, are being urged to stay informed about a fire burning nearby, as of 11am.
Those who live between the New England Highway, Bracker Rd and Warwick Killarney Rd were urged to keep on top of advice.
Residents around Maryland Cullendore Rd at Dalveen were urged to prepare to leave as a fast-moving fire burned near Old Stanthorpe Rd, travelling towards Kerrick Maryland Gate Rd.
Meanwhile, residents in Wallangarra are allowed to return home, with fire crews on site managing a bushfire which threatened to destroy their homes.
About 3.22am on Wednesday, QFES advised people in the Wallangarra township could “return with caution” if they left the area.
The fire near Wallangarra has eased and fire crews are on site.
Originally published as Qld bushfires: Dalveen, The Glen residents urged to leave immediately, emergency warning
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