Communities in south-west Queensland have been evacuated and homes hit by fast-moving bushfires, as residents of Myall Park and Hookswood near the town of Miles were urged to leave immediately.
The warning to people between Leichhardt Highway, Gearys Road, Greens Road and Ryalls Road was issued at 4.20pm.
“A fast-moving fire is travelling from Warramoo Road and is expected to impact Ryalls Road overnight,” Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said on Monday afternoon.
“This fire may pose a threat to lives. Major roads in the area may be impacted.”
The fires flared out of control on Monday as firefighters faced challenging conditions.
Crews were fighting several fires in the region, with two additional warnings for blazes burning in hot conditions on the Western Downs.
A prepare-to-leave alert was issued for a fast-moving fire travelling from the Nudley State Forest towards Burra Burri Creek Road and Davis Road, near Jandowae.
Police have declared a Public Safety Preservation Act (PSPA) due to a fire in Tara in the area enclosed in Chinchilla Tara Road, Terese Road, Weitzels Road and South Road. Residents are being evacuated. Follow emergency service instructions. Avoid the area. pic.twitter.com/edGnOaRB2v
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 12, 2023
There was also a watch and act alert in place for Montrose and Wieambilla, near Tara.
“Multiple fires are burning between South Road, Chinchilla Tara Road, Church Road, Weranga North Road and the intersection of Clynes Road and Kogan Condamine Road,” the QFES alert said.
“If you have left the area, it is still not safe to return,” the alert at 5pm on Monday said.
No fatalities or significant injuries have been reported but firefighters said a number of people had been treated for smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion.
“Unfortunately, we are expecting another warm day – not as warm and not as challenging as yesterday, but still a very difficult day – so the conditions will probably worsen through the day as the heat of the day comes on,” QFES state operations co-ordinator James Haig told the ABC.
The Myall Creek fire has burnt through about 2,300 hectares and continues to pose a threat, travelling between Myall Park Road and the Leichhardt Highway towards Warramoo Road and Old Forrest Road.
Firefighters were working to contain the fire on Monday afternoon but major roads in the area have been impacted.
The fire at Tara is about 840ha in size and continued to burn between South Road, Chinchilla Tara Road, Wieambilla Road, Church Road and Weranga North Road.
Water-bombing aircraft, two air support crews and dozens of ground crews remained on alert for the blazes.
Queensland sweltered through its hottest day in almost two years on Sunday, with 40-plus degrees temperatures in various parts of the state.
James Haig, the state operations coordinator at Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, told ABC News that firefighters faced very difficult conditions due to a combination of high temperatures, dry air, low humidity and wind, which made controlling the fire difficult.
“The main area of concern is in the Western Downs, Darling Downs and then down into the south-east corner, but also as far north as Gympie and heading into the Wide Bay-Burnett and across,” Haig said earlier on Monday. “It’s a fair quarter of the south-east Queensland area and the associated inland.”
Severe Heatwave Warning for: #Central Coast and #Whitsundays, #Capricornia, #Central #Highlands and #Coalfields and #Wide Bay and#Burnett Districts. Seehttps://t.co/NtCd4sShx9 for details. pic.twitter.com/XspcMZYzGX
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) February 12, 2023
Livio Regano of the Bureau of Meteorology Queensland said the heatwave conditions in Queensland, which exacerbated bushfires over the weekend, remained a problem.
Haig asked the public to be “extremely” careful not to start any new fires. One fire was started in a fuel drum on Sunday and another, near Beaudesert, from a mower hitting some rocks.
“It’s that dry in some places and there’s a lot of dead grass around that [a fire] took hold very quickly, and we had about 20 trucks on that one to keep it relatively small,” Haig said. “But just the same it indicates how quickly and how easily these fires can start.”
Regano said relief for the bushfire-affected towns was expected from Tuesday, when storms in the afternoon would ease the fire burden if widespread enough.
Monday was expected to be the last day of Queensland’s heatwave, Regano said, as the north winds drawing hot tropical air from the equatorial regions would be replaced in the coming days by a cooler south-easterly wind, which would “kill the heatwave warning”.
On Wednesday the cooler change would start moving north and reach central Queenstown around midweek, possibly Thursday, Regano said.
