Hot and windy conditions are testing exhausted firefighters battling Queensland’s bushfires, as the crisis enters its second week.

December 2, 2018

Gusty winds and soaring temperatures are testing exhausted firefighters as 101 bushfires burn across Queensland and a severe heatwave spreads south.

In central Queensland, where bushfires have been raging for more than a week, 50 kilometres per hour wind gusts have been recorded and heatwave conditions persist.

Further south, gusts of up to 65 kilometres per hour are whipping through the Darling Downs and Granite Belt, where temperatures are already approaching 40C in many districts.

Residents in Karara, 50 kilometres west of Warwick, in the state’s southeast, have been told to prepare to leave, with a bushfire likely to impact the area by 5pm.

More than 160 firefighting crews are battling the blazes, with bushfires at Deepwater and Eungella in central Queensland, as well as at Carnarvon in the southwest and on North Stradbroke Island, near Brisbane, the most concerning.

Macadamia farm manager Robert Griffith, who has been battling fires in the Deepwater area for eight days, says helicopters continue to water bomb bushland in the area and only rain will fully douse the massive blaze.

“Places are still smouldering and still burning … There’s still flames around here and there, and they’re still, every seven to eight minutes, filling up out of our dam and taking off,” he told AAP on Sunday.

“People shouldn’t sit back and have a beer … and say ‘it’s all over with’ because this is when s**t will happen.”

Staff at the commercial orchid have been using a water tanker and water cannon to help firefighters over the past week, he said.

“We saved some houses and watered them down and put fires out in their front yards … We’ve checked on as many houses as we can and they’re all fine,” he said. 

Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who is touring “devastated” areas in central Queensland, says the conditions remain concerning.

“It’s quite hot out there at the moment the winds have the potential to whip up at any stage, so we need to watch and wait and see,” he told reporters.

Mr McCormack paid tribute to the firefighters and volunteers who have been battling the blazes, which have destroyed more than 527,000 hectares of land.

“There are people out there, they are exhausted, they are fighting the good fight for their community, for their districts and their lives, and they’ll continue to do that,” he said.

“Let’s hope the weather turns in their favour this week.”