Crews battle fire west of Townsville

EMERGENCY crews were on Tuesday battling a major grassfire west of Townsville that threatened properties and caused significant loss to pastures.

The fire started in the area of Gladstone Creek Rd, off the Flinders Highway outside of Charters Towers, about midday, with eight homes said to be directly defended from fire.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Charters Towers Station officer-in-charge Peter Marten said another 10 properties were defended from the fire, which jumped Gladstone Creek Rd and burned areas of three nearby properties. “There’s been significant feed loss through the area and the fire, at this stage, is still under investigation as to the cause,” Mr Marten said.

“It has burnt from just east of Serenity Rd, between Gladstone Creek itself, all the way through to Gladstone Creek Rd. At this stage we do not believe we have lost any structures.”

Mr Marten said the conditions were “horrendous”.

“We face extremely difficult conditions, very dry, strong, blustery winds,” he said. “The strength of these winds and the unpredictability saw it that halfway through the fire we had a complete 180 degree wind shift.”