At least 18 families have been left homeless after ferocious bushfires ravaged southern Queensland.

Fires fanned by wind gusts of up to 90km/h have destroyed 10 homes in the Sarabah area, inland from the Gold Coast. Seven more have been lost at Stanthorpe, where fires forced hundreds of evacuations overnight. At least one other home was razed on Thursday, near Mareeba in north Queensland.

In New South Wales, a firefighter was critically ill in hospital while four homes and a shooting range were believed to have been destroyed as the fire crews battled dozens of uncontained bush and grass fires.

There were 51 fires burning across Queensland on Saturday, with winds still extremely high. Temperatures had dropped but the fire danger remained high.

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, pleaded with people in the danger zone to listen to any orders to evacuate, after one person who refused to leave put personnel in danger on Friday.

Late on Saturday afternoon, a major fire was affecting the border community of Applethorpe, where residents were again ordered to evacuate after being allowed to briefly return home on Saturday morning. The blaze was part of the Stanthorpe fire, which destroyed seven structures including three homes overnight.

There were also concerns for Hawkwood in the North Burnett region.

“There are no houses or homes in proximity to that but, in relation to Sarabah, we are monitoring the situation and we are making sure that people around Canungra are also being updated,” Palaszczuk told reporters. “So we are not out of this yet. The conditions are incredibly dry.”

A “prepare to leave” warning was in place for Stanthorpe and The Summit. The same warning was in place for Binna Burra in the Lamington national park, south-west of the Gold Coast, and the nearby community of Beechmont. Part of that fire was also burning east towards the Numinbah Valley and Springbrook.

There were no confirmed deaths from the emergency. But four people had to be rescued in very difficult circumstances on Friday. On Saturday, one man in his 20s was taken to hospital in a stable condition after collapsing while fighting a fire at a home at Clagiraba on the Gold Coast.

On Saturday, the premier warned Queenslanders of health risks from dust and smoke haze, and told those with conditions such as asthma to stay inside. She said help would be given to those families left homeless.

“We have a number of families at the moment who are actually going through some really traumatic times,” she said.

The acting Queensland Fire and Emergency Services commissioner, Mike Wassing, gave a sense of the horrific conditions fire crews faced.

“We have had gusts of up to 90km/h,” he said. “Firefighters have saved many homes, working closely with our local community members.

“Today will remain a key day for us. Temperatures have dropped but we still have very high winds.”

Bureau of Metoerology state manager Bruce Gunn said the state’s south-east had seen extreme fire conditions but they were not record-breaking. Temperatures were 10C above average for this time of year in many locations.

The risk had dropped on Saturday alongside the temperature, but the danger remained high given the persistent winds and very low humidity.

Residents in fire-ravaged areas have been sharing dramatic photos and videos online, with fast-moving fires on ridge lines turning the sky blood red.

Stanthorpe woman Samantha Wantling struggled for words to describe what’s happened to the landscape. “It’s like an atomic bomb went off,” she told the ABC.

If you live between Applethorpe to Dalveen. Please leave now... head north. Shelter is available at YMCA grounds at Leslie Dam. #bushfire #fire #stanthorpe #southerndowns pic.twitter.com/kVhMEFABCe — Joel Richters (@JoelRichtersALP) September 6, 2019

Rural Fire Service spokeswoman Kaye Healing said crews around Canungra were exhausted, with the weather bureau saying winds are still gusting up to 50km/h on that fireground.

“They’re fatigued and it’s extremely stressful,” she told the broadcaster. “They’re members of these communities and they’ve watched houses burn down and there hasn’t been a damn thing they could do about it.”

In NSW, emergency warnings were in place for two blazes in the Tenterfield region in northern NSW and one at Bees Nest near Armidale, the NSW Rural Fire Service said on Saturday.

A further 26 fires remained out of control, including a 1,000-hectare blaze at Legume near Tenterfield that could threaten homes again if conditions changed.

On Friday, a 66-year-old volunteer firefighter sustained serious burns to his head, face and upper body.

Police said four residential properties and a shooting range in Tenterfield were thought to have been destroyed in one of the Tenterfield fires.

I have been advised to evacuate my forest abode for a safer landscape.

Car's packed, wind is howling, dog's asleep ... strange apocalyptic evening (wish I could take the house!)

Bees Nest Fire - Guy Fawkes NP fire - out of control, spotting well ahead of fire front. #bushfire pic.twitter.com/48Pyr9SQce — Meredith Stanton (@CloudsCreek) September 6, 2019

The New England Highway at Tenterfield and Waterfall Way at Ebor had been reopened. But trees falling across roads was limiting access into and out of firegrounds, for both residents and firefighters, the RFS spokesman Ben Shepherd said.

No areas of NSW had a total fire ban on Saturday but the north-east of the state and far south coast all sat in the very high fire danger range, the RFS said.

It said some fires could continue to burn for weeks.