Surviving the summer on Queensland’s remote cattle properties: ‘We never give up on fires’

‘Fire is a useful tool if used with respect, but it’s extremely important to burn at the right time,’ says Rob French of Gilberton Station, 450km west of Townsville. Photograph: Lyn French

In the southern states, the bushfire advice on days of extreme or catastrophic fire danger is to evacuate early or have a plan to fall back to a community place of safety. But in the Arcadia Valley, 650km north-west of Brisbane in remote central Queensland, the response of locals is still to stay and fight.

“We have tremendous fires here and sometimes you will leave home [to fight a fire] with your swag and you don’t come back for a couple of weeks,” Owen Price says. “We might lose a fire, or fall back to plan B and C, but we’ll contain it somewhere and we’ll stick with it until we get it out. We never give up on fires. We can’t afford to because at the end of the day we are protecting our livelihoods and no one else will do that.”