Park fire ‘still serious’

Back-burning operations ongoing as fatigued fireys battle on

BACK-BURNING operations will continue this week in an effort to contain a bushfire which has torn through 40,000 hectares in the Girraween National Park on the state’s border.

Residents in the Wallangarra, Wyberba and Eukey areas, and further surroundings, can expect large amounts of smoke as fatigued but committed firefighters continue battling for control of the vegetation fire.

It follows a tense weekend for residents in the area after hot temperatures, low relative humidity and strong winds flared up the fire which broke containment lines, forcing an evacuation message to be sent to residents on Saturday.

Ballandean Incident Control Centre controller Konrad Fawczynski said unfavourable weather conditions on Saturday had hampered efforts of crews at the fire-front but changed unexpectedly.

“Firefighters were able to get on top of a spot-over fire which broke the containment lines,” he said.

“Aerial bombers, crews from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and firefighters from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services worked on getting that outbreak contained.

“(Saturday) night we did some back-burning operations and (Sunday) we’ve put in more back-burning along Pyramid Rd and strengthened containment lines.”

Strike force firefighting teams from as far as Caloundra have been deployed to back up volunteer Rural Fire Service units Mr Fawczynski said were fatigued after the massive effort.

“The crews are fatigued, especially the local volunteers who have put in a monumental effort - I can’t praise them enough,” he said.

Residents are urged to revise bushfire survival plans, and keep check on QFES on Facebook.

“The conditions aren’t actually easing off; we’ve still got some fairly serious conditions at the moment,” he said.