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Guests at Fraser Island’s largest resort have been told to leave on Monday morning as a “significant fire” continues to burn.
A spokesman, Superintendent James Haig in a statement said there were currently two fire fronts, one north of Kingfisher Bay resort and a second that’s just south of the Cathedrals.
“This fire’s very difficult to control under the conditions we’ve got on the ground, particularly a lot of vegetation and difficult access, so what we’re trying to do is work with the conditions we’ve got and have it past the east of Kingfisher Bay, it’s currently about 3.8 kilometres to the north of it,” he said on Monday.
“We’ve been working very closely with the Kingfisher Bay resort for quite a number of days. We have a large number of our own crews and appliances over there just in case.”
“There’s an awful lot of smoke being generated, I imagine people on the Sunshine Coast can see the plume. We’ve been lucky yesterday that the wind was pushing it largely offshore.”
Superintendent Haig explained the situation “We did quite a bit of bombing around some of the really important cultural sites as well, so we’re very much aware, although our highest priority is the protection of life and property, we’re also very conscious of the cultural heritage that’s so important on the island,” Superintendent Haig said.
The resort ordered guests to depart the island by 10.30am as a precautionary measure, while more than 350 campers have been told to limit their movements as weather conditions worsen.
Kingfisher Bay Resort said in a letter to guests that it had decided to close until December 14.
The resort management made the decision as fire authorities restricted new arrivals to Fraser Island because Crews have been battling the blaze now for more than six weeks.
“Rest assured that this is not an evacuation, and our team will work together with guests, to assist with all travel amendments,” the letter stated.
“Until the time of your departure, we request that guests remain within the resort grounds, as accesses to the inland tracks are closed.
“Guided tours have also been postponed until further notice.”
The letter said it had made “extensive preparations to ensure the safety of guests and team members” should the fire approach the resort.
“These preparations include having firefighting units based at the resort to ensure that any event is dealt with quickly and effectively,” the letter said.
Additional ferry services were also being arranged.
