New fire plan put in action
RURAL firefighters had a hunch a blaze on the Toowoomba Range would ignite at the weekend, so they had water bombers ready to go.
Rural Fire Service acting area director Michael Walsh said the fire at the weekend spread from logs that were left to smoulder after the Toowoomba Regional Council conducted its hazard reduction burn about two weeks ago.
“It is rugged country, and we couldn’t get to them,” he said. “When the council did its burn, there were sections that were still a bit green and they didn’t burn,” he said.
“Once we got some hot weather and wind the logs flared up and started burning the unburnt areas, because they had dried out by now.”
The fire broke its containment line twice at the weekend.
Mr Walsh the RFS officers came in hard with three airborne water bombers and six ground crews.
“With the erratic winds at the weekend, there were ideal conditions for spotting and breakouts,” Mr Walsh said.
The fire posed little threat to property, but Mr Walsh said there were concerns about the smoke it generated.
“Our policy is to hit fires hard and fast,” he said “We have the assets in place to hit them hard and to get them under control.”
The fire threat has passed for now, and Mr Welsh said the return of cooler and more humid weather from today would give landholders extra time to prepare.
“There will be ideal conditions for hazard reduction burns, with a permit from a fire warden,” he said.
“But the conditions are drying out really quickly, and landholders are running out of time to get those burns done.”