Aussie sand islanders flee from bushfire
Aerial view of an area affected by a bushfire on Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia on Saturday.
Residents of a coastal township on Australia’s World Heritage-listed Fraser Island were told to evacuate on Sunday as a bushfire approached.
Since it was sparked by an illegal campfire seven weeks ago, the blaze has blackened half the island off Australia’s northeastern coast.
Fraser Islands is part of the Great Barrier Reef and famed for its tropical rainforest on sand dunes, and inland lakes.
“We now don’t anticipate that that fire will run into the Happy Valley settlement today but we’ll continue to work hard,” Queensland state emergency services commissioner Greg Leach said.
“We will continue to have aircraft on the fire from first light tomorrow to try and knock that fire down as best we can.”
Queensland’s emergency services urged residents to evacuate late yesterday afternoon.
Baking temperatures across Queensland last week caused peak bushfire conditions, with emergency services currently attending to 48 fires, Leach said.
