Firefighters are battling to control dozens of deliberately-lit fires that have swept through more than 1,000 hectares of bushland near Tara on Queensland's Western Downs.
A Queensland Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said multiple fires were lit at Wieambilla on Kogan Condamine Road, Old Tara Road and Mary's Road between 10pm Sunday and 3am on Monday.
A prepare to leave order was issued for residents in that area this morning.
Queensland Rural Fire Service south west regional manager Wayne Waltisbuhl said fires "don't just start on their own".
"The multiple number of fires lit off the road edge indicated that they were deliberately lit," Superintendent Waltisbuhl said.
He said the "erratic" fires had not yet damaged any structures but multiple properties in the fire zone could come under threat.
"If the fires travel in a direction at a fast rate, it could be impact on Kogan township itself but there are numerous other farm properties and small buildings in that fire area that we've noted," he said.
The Wieambilla and Tara area has been impacted by multiple fires since December last year after six people, including two police officers, died in an horrific ambush at a remote rural property.
"A couple of major events before Christmas, some really large areas in there that put a real impact on the community and again last night," Superintendent Waltisbuhl said.
Massive operation
He said Queensland Rural Fire Service crews worked throughout the night, without air crews, to protect houses in the area.
"As daylight came out this morning we got some air observation up and quickly determined it was a large area of bushland and grassland on fire and we've now moved multiple resources in this area," he said.
Four water bombers were deployed this morning to assist.
Fifty crews are on the scene and more have been called in from several areas in south-east Queensland including Ipswich, the Gold Coast and Lockyer Valley.
"These fires won't go out today, we're going to have a lot of trouble containing some of the fires and we will say that we're probably not going to contain these fires by the end of today," he said.
"Some of the fires are in very heavy fuel loaded grassland areas, we're talking about grasslands of three to four foot high, fire is travelling very fast through that country there at the moment."
Superintendent Waltisbuhl said it was frustrating when fires were deliberately lit.
He said authorities were concerned weather conditions could lead to more fires in the Darling Downs region this week.
"We've got concerns from pretty much everywhere, the Western Downs Council, the Goondiwindi Regional Council and right out to the western parts of that," he said.
"One of the forecasts we've received is we're getting some fire danger come Wednesday and then another peak coming Friday," he said.
"We're preparing for that as we speak, we're also getting some reports of rain too so we're going to work on a worse-case scenario and make sure we're prepared for fire events that could happen."
