In short:
Bushfires have killed livestock and damaged several agricultural properties in central Queensland.
asserted
Bushfires → kill → Queensland
The fires come after Queensland's driest winter in six years.
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fires → come → years
Fire services are urging producers to keep vigilant and postpone hazard-reduction burns.
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services → urge → burns
Just one week into spring, Kat Kirk was fighting to protect her livestock from a vicious bushfire.
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Kirk → fight → bushfire
The hobby farmer was struck by how quickly the blaze spread on her 15 hectare property in Port Curtis, just outside Rockhampton.
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blaze → strike → Rockhampton
"I had five [or] six minutes between seeing it to trying to get everyone out," she said.
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she → have → everyone
By the time fire crews were able to control it, Ms Kirk had lost a coop of breeding chickens and the blaze burnt all but half a hectare of her land.
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blaze → control → land
"We barely just sort of got into the swing of spring and to see that coming over ... was very shocking,"she said.
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that → get → spring
Ms Kirk was one of several producers in central Queensland caught off guard by the fires so early in the season.
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Kirk → catch → season
Since September 1, multiple bushfires have occurred through the central Queensland region with the Queensland Fire Department issuing Watch and Act advice alerts for eight blazes.
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Department → occur → blazes
The 2026 winter was Queensland's driest in six years, with rainfall across central Queensland well below average, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
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winter → accord → Meteorology
Rockhampton Rural Fire Service area manager Matthew Eckhardt said spring was usually busy, but the past few weeks had left his team "fatigued".
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weeks → say → team
“We've had multiple crews out over multiple days going from one side of the community to the other [and] helping out," he said.
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he → have → other
'We definitely weren't prepared'
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We → prepare → ?
Egg producer Debbie-Jo MacDonald, based 20 kilometres north of Ms Kirk, said while she was relieved her property was mostly spared from fire damage earlier this month, she was caught off guard.
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she → base → guard
"By the time we'd called Triple Zero (000), it had gone from a 5x5-metre fire to a 100x100-metre fire," she said.
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she → call → fire
"I think coming into this season and being so early in the season too, we definitely weren't prepared for the number of fires in our area."
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we → think → area
Ms MacDonald said her 800 chickens were unharmed during the fire and did not suffer with smoke inhalation in the days after.
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chickens → say → days
Have I done this?
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I → do → this
Have I looked after them well enough?
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I → look → them
Have we allowed them area to escape?
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them → allow → ?
Can they move?
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they → move → ?
Can they survive on their own?
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they → survive → own
"
Rebuild to cost thousands
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Rebuild → cost → thousands
At Gladstone, more than 100 kilometres south of Rockhampton, the main irrigation pump on Tony and Coleen McCray's vineyard was destroyed when multiple fires surrounded their property on September 3.
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fires → destroy → September
The blaze crossed the fire breaks, which are cleared strips of land designed to stop fire coming onto a property.
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fire → cross → property
"We're going to be up for $50,000 … just to clear up all those dead trees and redo the fire breaks," Mr McCray said.
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McCray → go → breaks
With dry conditions continuing in the region, the McCrays have concerns about the rest of spring and summer.
"
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McCrays → continue → spring
Everything's very dry because [there has been] basically no rain since April," Mr McCray said.
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McCray → say → April
"I really do believe that we are going to have a very long, dry summer."
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we → believe → summer
QFD urges producers to stay vigilant
Back at Ms Kirk's property, she is rebuilding and reinforcing in preparation for the months ahead.
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she → urge → months
"Our days haven't stopped until midnight," she said.
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she → stop → midnight
"We still look around the property and see a million things we've still got left to do … boundary fencing to fix and obviously so much clean-up left.
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we → look → things
Nearby producers have donated supplies and volunteered to help.
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producers → donate → supplies
"I've been in tears over all the support we've received from family and friends and complete strangers," she said.
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she → receive → family
Ms MacDonald is also reinforcing fire safety on her property, including building more water infrastructure.
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MacDonald → reinforce → infrastructure
"We're trying to prevent what could be a catastrophe and at least … take it back from a catastrophe to just an event," she said.
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she → try → event
The Aporia