Straddie bush fire burned for 19 hours
BY DANI VOLKE
19 Nov, 2009 06:50 PM
Firefighters have contained a fire in bushland on North Stradbroke Island after a 19-hour battle.
A lightning strike during Tuesday nights fierce electrical storm is thought to have started the fire 10km south of Tazi Road.
Seven Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) crews, three QFRS helicopters, three Redland City Council vehicles, three Consolidated Rutile Limited vehicles and four Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) crews were involved in fighting the fire from 11am on Wednesday until 6am on Thursday.
South East Command Superintendent Mike Dwyer said no residential properties had been threatened.
He said emergency crews had to change response tactics because the area had experienced hotter and windier days in the past decade.
“The fire intensity and growth of the fire was getting to the point where it was controlling its own winds, which can be quite dangerous,” Superintendent Dwyer said.
“This summer we are taking different approaches to extinguishing fires due to hotter and windier days. We are spending a hell of a lot more on resources to extinguish fires very hard and very quick, so they dont build to an intensity where they crown to the tops of trees and take on their own winds.”
