Island on fire waits for rain to contain the flames

Evacuations were ordered as one of the first major bushfires of the season tears across Queensland’s Fraser Island.

The Fraser Island fire, one of the first major bushfires of the season, is watched from a distance by the Neagle family, including daughter Ruby and son Harley. Picture: Hollie Neagle

Evacuations were ordered as one of the first major bushfires of the season tears across Queensland’s Fraser Island, with authorities concerned the battle to contain it will be made more difficult as a five-day heatwave grips the state.

The blaze, being fought by rural fire crews and Queensland Parks and Wildlife personnel, was allegedly started by an illegal campfire more than a month ago.

The fire has burned through about 40km of “inaccessible terrain” — thick bushland surrounded by sand — making it difficult to contain.

At the weekend the fire warning was increased to Watch and Act, with the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service issuing a leave now evacuation alert for the Cathedrals area, which has since been closed.

The warning was later reduced to advice level, but QFES said the fire, which started last month, was still burning near Lake Bowarrady and travelling in a southerly direction towards Happy Valley.

“People in the area will be affected by smoke, which will reduce visibility and air quality,” QFES said.

The Neagle family had travelled down from Yeppoon, which was hit by the Cobraball bushfire that destroyed 14 houses in November last year, for a weekend getaway on Fraser Island.

Hollie Neagle said, while their campsite was a fair distance from the fire, there was ash falling everywhere and the smell brought back memories of last year’s horror fire season.

“Saturday night was a restless night of sleep,” Ms Neagle said. “After going through what we witnessed last year, we knew how quickly the wind could change and how fast the fire could move. But we knew our evacuation plan.”

While exploring the SS Maheno shipwreck along Fraser’s coastline on Saturday afternoon, the family witnessed the fringe of the fire up close.

“We felt safe with the fire crews there keeping things under control,” Ms Neagle said.

“The kids (Ruby, 9, and Harley, 7) stood on the car and took photos, they were more ­concerned about the safety of the dingoes and vegetation we’d come to visit.”

Rural Fire Service Maryborough area director Michael Koch warned the fire was unlikely to be contained and extinguished until a large amount of rainfall hits the region, noting the fire had been “particularly challenging” to fight over the past month.

“The fire’s been burning for over four weeks and it’s burned out a fair bit of the northern section of the island,” Mr Koch said. “Managing this fire’s particularly challenging where it is at the moment; we will need to get some decent rains to help us contain (it).”

Queensland’s temperatures were more than five degrees above the monthly average over the weekend, amid a five-day heatwave, with high humidity making mid-30C temperatures feel even hotter. Jonathan How, a senior duty forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology, said there was a “burst” of heat moving down from Central Australia to the east and southeast, bringing with it temperatures “as hot as we’ve seen since last summer”.

While hot conditions in South Australia, Victoria and NSW will ease after a southerly moves through late on Monday, the heat in Queensland will be “stagnant” and “prolonged”.

“The heat for Queensland won’t break down until the middle of the week, and even then it’ll remain quite warm,” Mr How said.

South Australia recorded a maximum of 42.6C on Sunday at Oonadatta, with many other places reaching 40C.

Temperatures in Sydney will reach mid-30s on Monday, with western suburbs like Penrith reaching 40C, before a cool change arrives in the evening.