Queensland firefighters are racing against the clock to prepare for a heightened bushfire season, with above-average rainfall increasing fuel loads and hampering hazard reduction burning.
Queensland fire services are racing to prepare for the coming bushfire season after recent wet weather.The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting above-average rainfall for the eastern half of Australia from September to November and unusually high temperatures across most of the country.
A year of record-breaking rain across large parts of the state has increased fuel loads and recent wet weather has hampered hazard reduction burns, leaving fire services scrambling to get ahead of the threat. Rural Fire Service Queensland chief officer Kaylene Jones said some areas were already seeing increased fire activity."The far north of the state is drying out quite rapidly, and we've already seen bushfires and escaped hazard reduction burns in the central region area of Queensland," she said. "Even though there's been a lot of rainfall, it doesn't mean that there's a reduced risk, and people need to be really mindful of that." Queensland's bushfire season starts in spring, but the hot weather during the last week of winter has some communities worried. Cr Smith said some people were still unable to return to their properties due to issues with insurance and rebuilding."It's really important that residents are prepared and considering the fuel load that is there, it's even more critical," he said.Aerial burns are being conducted when the weather permits in remote locations and national parks, including on the World Heritage-listed K'Gari, formerly known as Fraser Island.Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service senior ranger Linda Behrendorff said the weather conditions had been "extremely challenging". "Recently, we used the helicopter in order to get a large area of the southern part of the island burnt," she saidMs Behrendorff said while there was lots of grassy fuel load on K'gari, she was not expecting a repeat of the"There was very little soil moisture, which exacerbated those conditions as well as those crazy winds and weather conditions that were occurring," she said.RFSQ acting deputy chief officer Craig Magick said volunteer brigades were facing the same challenges. "Our rural fire brigades are actively undertaking hazard reduction burns in their communities," he said."The rain has impeded some of those planned burns, but as soon as the conditions allow, we'll be back out there." The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting above-average rainfall for the eastern half of Australia from September to November and unusually high temperatures across most of the country.Voice note shows WA police officer laughed at prisoner's death days after he asked for help Photo shows A stylised image shows polaroid of young smiling man over prison bars, with a wave form over topPhoto shows A close-up of a woman wearing a t-shirt, wrapping her arms around her pregnant bellyPhoto shows Man holding phone horizontally while wearing body camera on a property that looks like a farm with mountain in the backgroundPhoto shows a woman leans against a wire fence with green tree shoots behind herPhoto shows three women and three men sitting and standing around a bench with dark grey clouds in the backgroundVoice note shows WA police officer laughed at prisoner's death days after he asked for help Photo shows A stylised image shows polaroid of young smiling man over prison bars, with a wave form over top
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