September 26, 2025
Landholders in the South and North Burnett have been reminded their fire permits have conditions which have to be met before they light up.
For example, they must always have appropriate resources in place in case a fire starts to spread.
And they should not start a hazard reduction burn if the conditions are windy.
Superintendent Peter Harkin, from the Queensland Fire Department’s Wide Bay-Burnett District, said there had been a series of fires around the South and North Burnett areas over the past few days which had been caused by “escaped” permit burns.
In his role as Chief Fire Warden, he had contacted local Fire Wardens – the people empowered to issue (or not issue) fire permits – on Thursday to discuss this.
Supt Harkin said there were standard conditions on all fire permits but Fire Wardens could add other conditions.
Temporary conditions which have now been added in the South and North Burnett regions include four metre wide “bare earth” firebreaks, and not lighting fires until 4:00pm in the afternoon ie. the cooler part of the day.
Supt Harkin said landholders must also alert their local Rural Fire Brigade by phone that a controlled burn is happening – and QFD’s Fire Communications team (Firecom) – so that if something does goes wrong, firefighters can respond more quickly.
“We’re not suspending fire permits, we’re not cancelling fire permits,” Supt Harkin said.
“We’re just tightening things up a little bit.”
Supt Harkin emphasised he was not criticising Fire Wardens for the recent fires.
“It’s more around some landowners who are lighting fires but not having the appropriate measures in place,” he said.
Supt Harkin said a number of fires were still burning in the South Burnett and he was concerned about conditions over the weekend and into next week.
It was timely to remind people that we were moving into a bushfire risk period.
“We all need to be very diligent about how we deal with fire generally,” he said.
“People should check their properties to make sure they are bushfire-ready.”
NB. By law, a Fire Permit must be issued for any fire larger than 2m x 2m. More information about Fire Permits and tips about how to prepare your property for bushfires can be found on the Rural Fire Services’ website.
Hear hear! Another oft forgotten rule is you should notify your neighbours, so they don’t look out the window and see a huge blaze next door and think that there is a real bushfire approaching, and ring triple 000 in a panic.
Also permits say that people must be in attendance at all times, with a suitable supply of water (tank on ute or trailer ) not just light it and “she’ll be right while we have a cuppa”. Fires move FAST… too late to run out with a couple of water-drenched sacks then… you haven’t a hope.
There have been a big number of permit burns the last month, they are needed for dry fuel control, but they must be done properly and to the rules.