{"id":191497,"date":"2025-10-05T12:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T12:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/191497\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T12:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T12:13:08","slug":"authorities-will-investigate-campfire-that-sparked-major-moreton-island-blaze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/191497\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities will investigate campfire that sparked major Moreton Island blaze"},"content":{"rendered":"

A “careless” campfire lit during a fire ban sparked a rapidly moving blaze that has now burnt hundreds of hectares on Moreton Island, about 40 kilometres north-east of Brisbane, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Around 20 campers were relocated on Saturday due to the threat of a large out-of-control bushfire in the island’s north.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Fire crews worked tirelessly overnight to slow the spread of the fire, which is currently listed as a Watch and Act.<\/p>\n

Rural Fire Service Queensland Acting Chief Superintendent Neil Parker said the cause of the blaze was a campfire lit at 10.30 am on Saturday at Eagers Creek, on the island’s eastern coast.<\/p>\n

A total fire ban has been in place since Thursday and will remain in effect until at least October 7.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Neil Parker says a campfire caused the blaze. (ABC News: Molly Slattery)<\/p>\n

Mr Parker said the fire had already burned 640 hectares and put residents and campers at risk during school holidays and the long weekend.<\/p>\n

“We’re currently doing an investigation \u2026 if people haven’t got a permit during this fire season, it’s likely they’ll get a fine \u2026 or go to court,” he said.<\/p>\n

Thirty-two crews and five aircraft are working to contain the blaze, which could last at least another two or three days, according to Mr Parker.<\/p>\n

Moreton Island bushfire intensifies<\/a><\/p>\n

Campers on Moreton Island have been evacuated as a large, out-of-control bushfire burns in the island’s north.<\/p>\n

“While everyone’s watching the football, our parks and crews will be watching the area and making sure everyone’s safe,” he said.<\/p>\n

Preventive backburns are being carried out while aircraft continue to waterbomb and map the area.<\/p>\n

Crews are focused on burning into the breeze, keeping the fire away from homes and ensuring it doesn’t jump Telegraph Track.<\/p>\n

Mr Parker said half of the crews were sleeping because they’d worked overnight until 8am on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“Things are very dry and drying up quick, we just need people to be very careful,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When careless things like this happen, it has a big impact on our volunteers.”\"A<\/p>\n

Jay Lessons says Sunday’s more “favourable” windy conditions are helping to contain the blaze. (ABC News: Molly Slattery)<\/p>\n

Principal ranger with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Jay Lessons, said the last large bushfire event on the island was in 2019.<\/p>\n

Around 480 people had camped on the island over the weekend. Those remaining were being kept informed by local authorities, Mr Lessons said.<\/p>\n

Crews are aiming to burn about 2,300 hectares on the 37-kilometre sand island.<\/p>\n

Sunday’s more “favourable” windy conditions were helping to contain the blaze, according to Mr Lessons.<\/p>\n

More smoke will be visible across the island and towards Brisbane over the next couple of days, he said.<\/p>\n

As of midday Sunday, three fires were listed as Watch and Act across the state, including Moreton Island and two in the Bundaberg region in Nearum and near Gaeta Road in Takilberan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A “careless” campfire lit during a fire ban sparked a rapidly moving blaze that has now burnt hundreds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43182,7770,43,46662,121255,44,5036,94,701,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-191497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-bushfire","tag-fire","tag-headlines","tag-moreton-bay","tag-moreton-island","tag-news","tag-ocean","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}