Hot and windy conditions are testing exhausted firefighters battling bushfires, as residents in central Queensland are again told to prepare to leave.

December 2, 2018

Queensland’s bushfire emergency has flared up as strong winds and high temperatures test exhausted firefighters battling more than 110 blazes across the state.

More than 160 firefighting crews are battling the blazes, with bushfires at Deepwater and Eungella, in central Queensland, Tinnanbar, on the Fraser Coast, Karara, near Warwick in the state’s south, and North Stradbroke Island, of most concern.

At Winfield, south of Baffle Creek, the massive Deepwater fire, which has been raging for more than a week, is again threatening homes and residents have been told to prepare to leave.

Regional incident controller Mark Stuart says conditions in central Queensland have deteriorated, with crews battling 52 wildfires amid wind gusts of up to 50 kilometres per hour.

“This time of day and for the next hour or two during the hottest part of the day, when the winds do tend to whip up, is often the most trying time for firefighters on the ground … to ensure we don’t have spot overs or creation of new fires,” he told AAP on Sunday.

“We have so many significant fires at the moment that all have their own difficulties whether that’s the terrain or the fuel loading.”

Residents in the tiny town of 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.

East of Brisbane, a bushfire on North Stradbroke Island’s east coast, near Main Beach, is not threatening homes, however changing wind conditions late on Sunday are expected to push smoke and embers towards the mainland.

Earlier, Macadamia farm manager Robert Griffith, who has been battling fires in the Deepwater area for eight days, said helicopters continued to water-bomb bushland in the Deepwater area and only rain would 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 said

“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 after residents were evacuated from the area on Wednesday, 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.