Producers lose equipment, livestock in central Queensland spring fires

Just one week into spring, Kat Kirk was fighting to protect her livestock from a vicious bushfire.

The hobby farmer was struck by how quickly the blaze spread on her 15 hectare property in Port Curtis, just outside Rockhampton. 

"I had five [or] six minutes between seeing it to trying to get everyone out," she said.

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.

"We barely just sort of got into the swing of spring and to see that coming over ... was very shocking,"

she said.

Ms Kirk was one of several producers in central Queensland caught off guard by the fires so early in the 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.

The 2026 winter was Queensland's driest in six years, with rainfall across central Queensland well below average, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. 

Rockhampton Rural Fire Service area manager Matthew Eckhardt said spring was usually busy, but the past few weeks had left his team "fatigued".

“We've had multiple crews out over multiple days going from one side of the community to the other [and] helping out," he said.

'We definitely weren't prepared'

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. 

"By the time we'd called Triple Zero (000), it had gone from a 5x5-metre fire to a 100x100-metre fire," she said.

"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."

Ms MacDonald said her 800 chickens were unharmed during the fire and did not suffer with smoke inhalation in the days after.

"[During unplanned burns] there's always a lot of emotions going through your mind about. Have I done this? Have I looked after them well enough? Have we allowed them area to escape? Can they move? Can they survive on their own?"

Rebuild to 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. 

The blaze crossed the fire breaks, which are cleared strips of land designed to stop fire coming onto a 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.

With dry conditions continuing in the region, the McCrays have concerns about the rest of spring and summer.

"Everything's very dry because [there has been] basically no rain since April," Mr McCray said. 

"I really do believe that we are going to have a very long, dry summer."

QFD urges producers to stay vigilant

Back at Ms Kirk's property, she is rebuilding and reinforcing in preparation for the months ahead. 

"Our days haven't stopped until midnight," she said. 

"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." 

Nearby producers have donated supplies and volunteered to help.

"I've been in tears over all the support we've received from family and friends and complete strangers," she said.

Ms MacDonald is also reinforcing fire safety on her property, including building more water 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.