Queensland Fire and Emergency Services battle Kumbarilla State Forest fire in Cecil Plains

In a worrying sign for the months to come, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services has used their large air tanker to help tackle a blaze burning out of control west of Toowoomba, the first time this bushfire season the asset has been deployed in the state.

Weather conditions have hampered efforts to contain a large blaze burning out of control in state forest west of Toowoomba, with fire authorities deploying a major asset for the first time in Queensland this bushfire season.

Within a week of arriving in the state, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services-contract large air tanker has been deployed to combat a large bushfire burning in Kumbarilla State Forest fire in Cecil Plains.

The fire has so far burned through more than 1650ha, with the LAT deployed both Thursday and Friday to assist firefighters on the ground.

The large air tanker in action to combat a bushfire in Kumbarilla State Forest on September 7, 2023.

Queensland Rural Fire Service Inspector Ross Stacey said weather conditions had not been favourable to crews battling the fire, which had grown “substantially” overnight to Friday.

Unfortunately for firefighters, Inspector Stacey said there was concern over a weather change that was expected to come through from the west on Friday, bringing with it erratic winds over the fireground.

“We’re currently running some modelling on what the weather forecast is indicating, we’re mindful of the front that’s coming through and our modelling will indicate where that’s likely to go and how it’ll interact with the fire,” he said.

“We really cant stress enough that when we get to a fire of this size it really starts to create its own weather, it starts having its own effects. It’s very hard to predict what's going to occur.

“Our atmospheric stability has been causing quite a lot of issues for the fire and what that means is when we’ve got an unstable atmosphere, fire behaviour is very erratic and can change at the drop of a hat and it really is a risky situation for crews to be working in.

“We are expecting the weather that’s coming in behind the change to be dry and breezy, so again not good for fire behaviour. It’s going to promote things and any new starts we get in the landscape will take hold very quickly.”

Inspector Stacey said fire crews were in action defending a property to the west of the fire on Thursday, and that spot fires ahead of the main fire front was a concern.

“If residents do see a new fire start call triple-0 and report that immediately,” he said.

“We would like to put out there that anyone who lives in the area needs to remain vigilant and make sure they’re mindful of our warnings and keep up to date with them as they’re put out.”

Along with the large air tanker, Inspector Stacey said smaller aircraft, as well as heavy plant machinery, had been deployed to combat the fire, with firefighters from the Rural Fire Service, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and QFES called to battle the fire.

Multiple prepare to leave warnings have been issued this week for the Cecil Plains and Dunmore areas for the fire that is burning in the Kumbarilla State Forest and Dunmore State Forest.

The fire is travelling towards Weir River Rd, Cecil Plains Moonie Rd and Waugh Rd.