A rural firefighter dampens down a hot spot at the site of the Redgate grassfire on Thursday afternoon

August 8, 2019

A quick response by fire crews helped contain a potentially dangerous fire whipped up by wind at Redgate on Thursday afternoon.

A worker on a nearby property spotted smoke and sparking in grass near a powerline and transformer and called 000 about 12:30pm.

The grassfire quickly took off, racing across several paddocks and at one point jumped Redgate Road near Finnemores Road.

QFES issued a “stay informed” alert to local residents as firefighters worked to contain the blaze.

Thirteen fire crews, including rural and urban units, had the fire contained by 1:04pm.

At 3:00pm, several crews remained on site, dampening down the area to make it safe.

Several units from the Redgate incident were then sent to Cherbourg to help contain a fire which broke out in scrub on the eastern end of Murray Road about 1:55pm.

This fire, burning across a ridge near the old Emu Farm and into a gully near Bjelke-Petersen Dam, was creating a large amount of smoke.

A QFES spokesperson said that at 4:15pm, five QFES fire crews plus Queensland Parks and Wildlife workers were at the scene, backburning and mopping up.

The fire had spread about one kilometre along the ridge but no properties were under threat.

The High Fire Danger rating for the South Burnett will continue tomorrow and Saturday (with a Severe rating for the Darling Downs) before easing slightly on Sunday.

Residents should take great care when using any equipment outside which could create sparks.

The fire burned close to several buildings but the wind direction helped firefighters keep the properties safe
Whipped up by wind, the Redgate fire swept quickly across several paddocks, creating a lot of smoke
Smoke from the Cherbourg scrub fire drifted across Bjelke-Petersen Dam

 

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