Weather and luck finally turning for fire-hit Fraser Island

Desperately needed rain over Fraser Island has given firefighters the upper hand against a blaze that has raged for two months.

Up to half of World Heritage-listed Fraser Island has burnt.

For the first time in two months of battling raging bushfires on Fraser Island, the weather has co-operated with firefighters, giving them the upper hand.

Much-needed rain fell on the island in the past 24 hours, reducing the intensity of the blaze which has so far burned 85,000ha of vege­tation — half of the World Heritage-listed island.

The 26mm falls reduced many of the island’s residents to tears on Tuesday, after days of working around the clock to protect their homes in Happy Valley. “We woke up to no smoke, and clean air,” said property owner Els­peth Murray. “It felt like a miracle.”

On Monday night, the tiny town narrowly avoided a catastrophe after 15 volunteers became trapped while backburning along the town’s northern side.

Ms Murray said they all stayed calm, knowing they just had to wait for the fires to burn themselves out before they could safely return to the town.

“They put life and limb at risk, it was real heroics … the plan worked and our town was saved.”

Queensland Fire and Emerg­ency Services Chief Superintendent Matthew Bulow said fire­fighters followed up Monday night’s falls with heavy water bombing of the fires inland and were hopeful of further rain to extinguish the blaze once and for all.

“We’ve said for the last week or two it’s going to take some significant rain, and we wouldn’t be able to do it through air and ground crews alone,” he said.

“First step was 25mm, we need to follow that up with at least 50mm to 75mm, and the forecast is looking good.”

Until the fire was out across the island, it was impossible to assess the extent of the damage to pristine areas, rainforests and wildlife.

Although the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service had not been told of any injured or displaced wildlife, it was expected to conduct an island-wide survey post-fires.

Chief Superintendent Bulow said much of the firefighting effort had focused on rainforest and other pristine areas most at risk from the blaze, which started from an illegal campfire.