Vegetation fire exposes threat
INVESTIGATIONS are continuing into a vegetation fire on the outskirts of Tara that led to a house being threatened on Thursday night.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Service Acting Superintendent Lawrence Laing said responding firefighters were forced to call in a back-up water supply truck to extinguish the blaze.
“The fire that we were dealing with started off as a vegetation fire with a structure under threat,” he said. “We’ve sent investigators out to identify what was the cause of the fire and go from there.
“We called in another water truck. We had enough water to start with, but it was very low.”
He said despite the heightened fire danger due to dry conditions, landholders had been mindful of having their disaster plans in place.
“At the moment, people are adhering to the conditions and are applying for their burning permits, which we encourage,” he said.
“Ethically, it is really good behaviour.
“We have had a few fires and locally we have been able to deal with them straight away, and we’ve had good support from the landowners.”
Act Supt Laing said newly settled residents in rural areas needed to be mindful of the accessibility of their properties.
“We’ve had a massive increase of hobby farmers or people that have gone to live in the green environment and are possibly not aware of their accessibility in their locations,” he said.
“It’s nice to live out in the vegetation areas and forests, but if we can’t get to your home to protect it, we can’t defend it.
“If there is no water there is no water, but people can put in some fire breaks and reduce the amount of fuel they have around by slashing.
“But please be aware slashing at this time of the year can actually cause fires so if you’re going to do that, make sure you have access to extinguish those fires, or access to do so. What we do encourage is cleaning around your homes, clean out the gutters and make sure you have accessibility to your property.”
He said fire trucks needed a 3m x 3m access to the property, as well as enough space to turn around once on the land.