A world-first program using sniffer dogs to detect fire ant colonies has led to almost complete eradication of the species in central Queensland's Gladstone region.

Biosecurity Queensland said, with its pioneered National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program, it was only a matter of time before the invasive ant species was eliminated across the rest of the state.

"We've had four incursions, that we know of, in Queensland and we've eradicated three of them," program director Sarah Corcoran said.

"So we're confident, we just need the resources to do it.

"Our dogs are our secret weapon in eradication of fire ants."

She said the treatment methods it used had always been very effective but it was locating the ants that was the hard part.

"It's always really challenging to find the last ant and with the sensitivity of a dog's nose, their sense of smell is 10,000 times stronger than what our human nose is, so if there's any ants left the dogs will definitely find them," she said.

"They give us a 99.9 per cent confidence."

Mr Corcoran said it was aiming for complete eradication in the Gladstone region by June/July this year.

If no more ants are found, Biosecurity Queensland will have achieved complete eradication in just two and a half years.

"That will be the fastest eradication for fire ants anywhere in the world," Ms Corcoran said.

"It's an historical moment not only for Gladstone but also for Australia."

A close-up of a fire ant. Biosecurity Queensland is using sniffer dogs to tackle the invasive pest, which poses "serious health and environmental impacts". ( Supplied: Biosecurity Queensland )

Ground-breaking program

Agriculture Minister Leanne Donaldson has praised Biosecurity Queensland and its ground-breaking program.

"The eradication timetable is two years ahead of schedule," she said.

"Here in Gladstone this is world-class activity, so I'm really proud to say the team and particularly the dogs and industry are all working together."

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries' website describes fire ants as "one of the world's most invasive species".

According to the website, if they establish permanently in Queensland they will "ruin our way of life and have serious health and environmental impacts."

"The investment of eradication here in Australia far outweighs the cost of a future with them," Ms Corcoran said.

Willow the labrador sniffing out pests

Queensland is the only place in the world that has dogs trained for the purpose of hunting fire ants.

Willow the black labrador has been on the job for about two and a half years.

Fire ants crawling on a 10 cent coin. ( Supplied: Biosecurity Queensland )

The program's senior dog handler, Justin Gibson, said Willow was one of nine dogs that had been trained to sniff out fire ants at incursion sites across the state.

"We imprint them on the pheromone of the ant," Mr Gibson said.

"Every ant species has its own pheromone that gives a scent picture that we can isolate and use on our dogs so that they only locate fire ants.

"We're up to our last round of surveillance now and hope to be able to provide proof of freedom this year."

He said proof of freedom was confirmation that treatment had been effective and there were no fire ants left in the area.

Mr Gibson said, with Gladstone on the verge of being fire ant-free, Willow would still have plenty of work left to do in the state's south-east.

"She'll continue working down in Brisbane where we still do have isolated pockets of fire ants," he said.

"We're still in the middle of that eradication program down there."

Australian scheme going global

Fire ants are native to South America but are now found across southern parts of the United States, China, Taiwan and the Philippines, as well as Australia.

Ms Corcoran said fire ants were having big impacts on health in other countries.

"Not only have people died in severe cases from anaphylactic shock but they are hospitalised very regularly," she said.

"A couple of hundred thousand people are hospitalised a year."

Ms Corcoran said in America more than $7 billion a year was spent on the implications of fire ants.

"Just to deal with repair costs for infrastructure and medical bills and those sorts of things," she said.

The Biosecurity Queensland team is now helping other countries develop fire ant detection dog units.