"Now, more than ever, saving individual koalas is critical. With such an intense start to the bushfire season, it will be many weeks and months before some of these fires are out," he said. "All the while, wildlife will continue to need to be rescued and treated, and might remain in care for some time. The road to recovery will be long." Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Bear stumbled into his new profession after being given up by his owners when he was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. He did not make a good pet as dogs with this condition do not like to play. But the qualities that didn't make him a model pet made him an ideal detection dog.

He was rescued from the pound by the University of the Sunshine Coast, which trained him to track down koalas. Bear is no standard koala-detecting hound, however. He is now the only dog in the country which can track down a koala based not only the smell of its faeces, but also the smell of its fur. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Because faeces may have been left by a koala a long time before it is smelt, fur-detection makes Bear extremely effective at his job, according to Rebekka Thompson-Jones from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. While the border collie-Koolie cross did not find any signs of koalas in Cooroibah, he did pick up the scent of surviving koalas in bushland around the northern NSW town of Ballina.

"Once he finds a koala, he sits very still to indicate to a human that he is near a koala. He's then rewarded with a ball which he'll chase," she said. Loading The number of bushfires across Queensland rose to 81 on Monday afternoon, many of those in the south-east corner of the state, and 116 fire trucks were on the front lines. The only urgent evacuation orders in place were on Moreton Island, where residents near the town of Bulwer and all campers on the island have been advised to seek refuge at Tangalooma Island Resort. More than 200 evacuated holidaymakers spent Sunday night at the resort after they were forced out by an unpredictable bushfire, sparked by a lightning strike on Saturday.

"We're close to capacity so we turned our two conference facilities into evacuation centres, opened up the amenities," Tangalooma Island Resort director David James said. Loading "We hosted a BBQ dinner free of charge. We also turned the sprinkler systems off around the garden and some of the campers pitched their tents there." Mr James said vessels were travelling to and from the mainland on Monday, but many evacuees were waiting to see what authorities would say about the fire conditions ahead. The fire danger ratings dropped to "very high" on Monday, after hitting "extreme" and "severe" in most areas on Sunday. Wednesday was expected to be the worst day for firefighters this week.

A brief series of intense storms on Sunday afternoon did little to dampen the blazes, and with no major rain on the horizon, the fire service admitted the outlook was grim. "We’ll be fighting some of these fires for weeks yet until we get significant rainfall; these fires will not go out," Queensland Fire and Emergency Services acting commissioner Mike Wassing said. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video A NSW air tanker that uses 15,000 litres per drop was called in to help with the bushfire at Pechey, north-east of Toowoomba, on Sunday. The major storms that swept across the region packed a lot of punch, with high winds and “large-to-giant” hail recorded across areas from Caboolture to Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast.

However, they did not bring much rain and the skies cleared quickly once the storms had passed, and the weather was predicted to stay that way on Monday and into the week. Loading Sunshine Coast mayor Mark Jamieson said two of council’s waste recovery centres, Caloundra and Buderim, were forced to close because of large trees blocking the entrances. “There is a substantial amount of fallen trees and debris across these areas, and unfortunately many private properties have sustained damage,” he said. “Emergency crews were able to assist residents in a unit at Buderim-Mooloolaba Road which lost its roof, requiring the evacuation of the residents."

The SES recorded more than 150 storm-related jobs, but this number was expected to increase. with Stuart Layt and AAP