<
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-03/qld-catastrophic-fire-danger-declared-granite-belt-darling-downs/102808452>
'Catastrophic fire danger has been declared for parts of Queensland, as the
country enters a warm, dry spring — the first since 2020.
From Monday, the most extreme fire danger warning will apply to the Darling
Downs and the Granite Belt.
Large swathes of eastern and central Australia are already on high alert this
spring after the country's warmest winter on record.
This will also be the first dry spring predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology
(BOM) since 2020, after three years of high rainfall built up fuel loads,
increasing the fire risk.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFS) chief superintendent Tony
Johnstone said it was the first catastrophic fire warning in some time.
"What it means with catastrophic [rating], is fires may be very uncontrollable,
and resources may actually have to stand back and let things burn until it
actually gets to a safe place," he said.
The rating means lives are likely to be lost if there is a fire.
Heightened fire danger has also been declared for the Maranoa and Warrego area,
as well as parts of central and north-west Queensland.
Mr Johnstone said there had been several fires in the state over the weekend.
"This year we're seeing more and more grass fires escalate quickly, and as we
saw yesterday at a number of jobs we had to respond really quickly to keep
those grass fires small," he said.
People in bushfire risk areas were encouraged to leave.
But everybody should be aware of the conditions, Mr Johnstone said.'
Via Clarice Boomshakala Bouvier.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
