QUEENSLAND is preparing for a long hot fire season, and one church leader says conditions are already tinder dry in the state’s south.
“We’re not far from desperate,” Toowoomba diocese vicar general Fr Franco Filipetto said.
The Warwick-based priest serving said a season of heavy rain meant there was now a lot of grass and a lot of fuel ahead of the bushfire season.
“It’s a dry spring, there’s a lot of fuel and sometimes there is a forecast for strong winds,” he said.
“In other words, conditions are ripe for a fire.”
Queensland has been issued with the highest fire danger ratings since 2018.
The Darling Downs and Granite Belt regions have been issued with catastrophic fire ratings, while there is an extreme fire danger predicted for Maranoa, Warrego and Channel Country districts.
Frequent wind and consistent 33-degree weather have caused vegetation growth to dry out, while a lack of rainfall following La Niña has also contributed.
Farmers are already hand feeding in many parts.
Fr Filipetto said rain was badly needed if bushfires were to be avoided.
He said the Main Range National Park was particularly vulnerable.
The park covers a wide area predominantly in Tregony in the Southern Downs, about 85 kilometres southwest of Brisbane. It includes world heritage listed rainforests.
Conditions were catastrophic in early September 2019, when a fire broke out on the Granite Belt and led to a “black summer” of bushfires that lasted for months.
Conditions in 2023 are different. Grass fires — not bushfires — pose the greatest risk.
Last month the Australian Fire Authorities Coucil has warned that parts of the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia will all face increased bushfire risk for Spring 2023.
