Noosa bushfire comes within metres of homes as Bribie fire continues to burn

Updated

As bushfires continue to burn on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane, some residents at Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast had a close call late yesterday when flames came within metres of their homes.

Key points: QFES says the Noosa fire was brought under control early this morning

A Bribie Island hazard reduction burn broke containment lines earlier this week

Bribie's Ocean Beach and the nearby camping area remain closed due to the fire

The threat prompted several people to flee their properties at the Noosa Springs golf course overnight.

Police set up an evacuation centre for people with medical conditions such as asthma, and some people chose to leave their units to avoid the smoke.

Despite the concern expressed by residents, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) kept the warnings at a lower "notification level", which does not require residents to leave their homes.

"There was never a direct threat to houses, our crews were confident with the notification level that they had there," a QFES spokesman said.

Eight fire crews were able to bring the blaze under control by 2:30am and today crews from Parks and Wildlife are monitoring the scene.

'The fire was just raging'

Noosa Springs resident Sandy Gibson said she was woken by the glow of the fire.

"I got out of bed about 1 o'clock [this morning] to this glow in the sky … I thought it was much later, but it wasn't the sun coming up — it was bright red and flames leaping into the air," she said.

"My husband Noel said 'don't worry about anything — just put on some clothes and we'll get outside' — but it came up behind our garage and that was quite close.

"The sky was spectacular, if you can say such a thing."

Ms Gibson said fire crews took some time to find them.

"We knocked on a lot of doors and got a lot of people out," she said.

"So many people were still asleep through the noise of the fire … I thought it was the wind, but it was the fire just raging."

"They [fire crews] couldn't find us — that was an issue because the resort drive is not on their record — so they parked up the road further and [a neighbour] had to direct them in the right direction."

Ms Gibson said she was pleased there had been no damage to their home.

"I'm pleased it's behind us, no damage," she said.

"The embers were travelling through the air and I rescued everything on the back deck like everyone else did — it was quite an experience."

Fellow Noosa Springs resident Pam Taylor said she did not know where the bushfire had come from.

"Whether it was a bushfire and the wind picked it up [or] it came down from Lake Weyba," she said.

"Even five o'clock this morning I got up and saw there were still tree trunks alight — it's still going."

Expected horror fire season ahead

While it is not known what sparked the Noosa Springs fire, it occurred as Queensland authorities rushed to complete hazard reduction burns ahead of an expected horror fire season.

A planned burn at Bribie Island jumped containment lines earlier this week, forcing the evacuation of campers, and crews from QFES and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) are still working to contain it.

Parks and Wildlife rangers said Ocean Beach, the Ocean Beach camping area, and Northern Access track on Bribie Island remain closed today due to the active fire.

In a statement, the QPWS said the fire in the northern section of Bribie Island had now been contained but would continue to be monitored throughout the weekend.

The cause of the fire would be investigated, but the blaze had claimed the lives of many native animals, including kangaroos.

"Unfortunately uncontrolled bushfires do claim the lives of native animals," a spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Science (DES) said.

"DES will conduct an assessment of the impact to protected areas and native species."

Topics: emergency-incidents, bushfire, environmental-impact, bribie-island-4507, brisbane-4000, maroochydore-4558, noosa-heads-4567, qld

First posted