FIRECREWS across tinder-dry Queensland are in overdrive to save the state from a fiery summer.
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Teams of firefighters have been working since June in Operation Cool Burn to identify bushfire-prone areas and conduct hazard reduction burns.
This has included local councils such as Central Highlands Regional Council, where Queensland Country Life photographer Sarah Coulton found a crew in action last week, assisting council staff with a controlled burn near Emerald.
Station officer Clive Weeks said they had been trying to get as much as possible burnt while it was still cool but he wouldn’t encourage any more mitigation work.
“We’ve probably gone past the ideal conditions now,” he said.
He urged rural landholders to have firefighting measures in place if they were considering work that involved sparks, such as welding and cutting.
“People get a bit focused on their work, and they have a mask on – often they will look up and find fire all around them,” he said.
“An extinguisher should be handy to knock down the flames, or water and a pump, and even an observer would help.”
He said a couple of recent fires had been caused by slashers hitting stones hidden in the grass.
The Queensland Government has conducted more than 100 planned burns on state-owned land this year with its 21 permanent trained firefighters on staff.
Recent burns on state-owned land have been carried out at Mt Morgan, Carwarral, Mareeba, Mt Garnet, Torbanlea and on Green Island.
Other burns are planned for Bowen and in the Gemfields area west of Emerald.
