Showers have not provided relief for firefighters battling a deadly blaze in southern Queensland, with lightning strikes causing more problems.
However, Western Downs Mayor Paul McVeigh says there is now hope that the township of Tara may be safe from a fire that has claimed one life and destroyed homes.
There were fears the fire would threaten the town west of Brisbane, prompting the relocation of hundreds of evacuees to Dalby and Chinchilla late on Wednesday.
More than 300 people had been forced to flee their homes from the ferocious blaze that has burned more than 11,000 hectares, with reports of flames of up to 15 metres high.
A yet to be identified body was found late on Tuesday night in the fire-ravaged Tara region.
Mr McVeigh said he was also aware of an elderly woman who suffered a medical episode and died while trying to evacuate her property.
"It was the fire threat that initiated the decision to relocate our evacuees," Mr McVeigh told AAP.
"We had to call it for the safety of our community as the fire was heading toward the township."
There were 230 families at Dalby and 29 at Chinchilla, he said.
A wind change and light showers late on Wednesday looked set to turn the tide for fatigued firefighters before lightning struck.
"If anything it created more issues for our firies," Mr McVeigh said of the showers.
"We had quite a few lightning strikes. They had to attend to five lightning strikes and put them out as soon as they appeared.
"While it cooled down a bit, they had a very, very busy night."
However, Mr McVeigh said they were hopeful of having the large fire under control by the weekend, with a cool change set to continue this week.
"I think we are going to have a slightly easier day. It's a bit cooler, that little dampening down last night has been beneficial," he said.
"The wind direction changed last night so the township of Tara is considered safe at this stage.
"But we can't take the foot off the throttle as far as trying to get this fire under control - we are certainly not out of the woods yet."
Mr McVeigh said it was still too early to assess damage in the area but 16 homes were believed to have been destroyed.
People who have left their homes at Tara and nearby Wieambilla, Kogan, Goranba and Weranga were told on Thursday by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services that it is still not safe to return.
Residents at Halliford near Dalby were on Thursday told to evacuate.
Another fire on the Darling Downs in the southwest has burned about 3000ha, destroyed a house and forced about 50 people into evacuation centres but was expected to be contained by Thursday.
Overall firefighters have combatted more than 100 blazes across the state this week.
There are about 20 burning in Queensland on Thursday.
Extreme fire danger warnings are expected for the Maranoa region in the southwest, central west, northwest and Channel Country on Thursday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said a southerly change would bring cooler conditions moving through the state's west, with a chance of more rain in the Western Downs by Friday.
The bureau warned the cool change would bring strong, gusty winds, driving up the fire danger in the coming days.
Australian Associated Press
