Western Downs residents forced from homes as fires rip through Tara, Kogan and Wieambilla
A Wieambilla woman who already suffered earlier this year when fires destroyed her belongings has had to relive the nightmare after evacuating her home Monday night. Full details.
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Many residents across the Western Downs have been forced to leave their homes and belongings in the past 24 hours as a 600ha bushfire burns out of control through the region.
As Queensland Fire and Emergency Services continue to provide warnings, one woman said she ran out of her home as fast as possible.
“It swung around during the night so it was hard running around in the dark, trying to think of what I needed,” she said.
“Triple-0 was down and all communication cut so we had no idea what was happening, so I got out as fast as possible.”
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The woman who lives alone has sought refuge at Chinchilla Weir as the Wieambilla property remains in an evacuation zone.
It was only eight months ago the woman had to leave her newly renovated home and lost thousands of dollars worth of belongings that she was unable to replace.
“It’s a big hit that I’m not going to be able to recover from,” she said at the time.
QFES Superintendent Wayne Waltisbuhl said in a press conference Tuesday morning that the Tara fire was 500 to 600ha in size and “growing rapidly as we speak”.
He also confirmed the blaze had destroyed five structures overnight.
“We have ten water bombing aircrafts operating across the region, majority working on the Tara fire itself,” he said.
“We’re looking at strategic drops using the large aerial tanker.”
He emphasised that residents take the warnings provided by QFES seriously after one of their own members became trapped in a burning home.
“When we ask people to leave immediately we mean leave immediately for their own protection and life,” he said.
“One of our crews that was in protecting one of the houses got trapped for a short period of time. They were safe they just couldn’t get out because of the fire behaviour.
“That tells us how dangerous the situation really is.”
Before noon on Monday QFES put out multiple alerts warning people living in the Tara and Kogan areas to prepare to leave their homes as a fast-moving fire from West Valley Rd was travelling towards South Rd.
Another resident from Timothy Rd in Wieambilla took to social media to warn people that the street had been wiped out.
“Timothy Road is pretty much gone. I got out with my dogs and a few clothes. It was an inferno,” Chris Mansell said.
A QFES spokesperson said in the past two days more than 50 fire crews, including aircrafts, had been out to Tara and Kogan to try and maintain the blazes however they cannot yet confirm how much land or structures have been destroyed so far.
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