Australia Wildfires: Homes Threatened in NSW and Queensland

by Amy Judd | October 15, 2009 at 09:14 am

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The Australia wildfire season is underway once again with about 20 fires currently burning across Queensland and homes being threatened in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.

Residents near Rockhampton have been asked to evacuate their homes due to the approaching fire, campers on the north coast of New South Wales have been asked to leave, and firefighters are also currently battling a blaze near Broome, but they say homes and lives are under threat.

The Rockhampton fire, which has been burning in the Mount Archer region for several days has made its way down the New Zealand Gully and could potentially become more dangerous.

The Queensland Fire Service Assistant Commissioner Neil Gallant says the fire front is expected through the community this afternoon and residents need to leave for their own safety.

He says school children will be taken to the nearby Cawarral Community Hall and supervised by police until parents arrive.

"The police have invoked the Public Safety Act so that way they can require people to relocate out of that area," he said.

"We're saying to people that if they've got friends or family in Rockhampton to go to that's good or they can go to the community hall at Cawarral and they'll be looked after there."

It is expcted that the Rockhampton fire will move closer to the town in the next few days.

Firefighters are also currently fighting grass fires in the Lockyer Valley at Plainland and Minden, two fires on the Gold Coast, a grassfire near the Gateway Motorway near Deagon and a fire at Toorbul.

Residents at Brooms Head spent all night fighting the flames and now reinforcements have arrived from Lismore and New England to help. The success of this fire depends on if the wind changes direction again.

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