Cape York Weekly FREE – #157 | Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Editor Matt Nicholls: 0477 450 558 | editor@capeyorkweekly.com.au
QFES PUTS CAPE ON RED ALERT
Total fire bans By SARAH MARTIN
WITH fire crews and volunteers stretched and an increase in suspected arson, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services has extended an unprecedented total fire ban for the entire Cape for another week. QFES regional manager Lawrence Laing said the fire ban affected the entire northern region from Cardwell to the Torres Strait as resources are stretched to breaking point. “This is uncommon, we have had fire bans on local government areas before, but not the whole region,” Mr Laing said. “We’re utilising all our resources on the current fires, and with no decent rainfall predicted any time soon, we can’t afford to have more fires burning.” Mr Laing said it was bushfire season, and while the number of fires currently burning across the Cape wasn’t unusual, they had sapped the energy of fire crews. “There is always fire in the Cape in some shape or form at this time of year, and some don’t have much impact and don’t need heavy resourcing, but at the moment we have 18 bushfires and 26 appliances fighting them,” he said. “These are volunteers, community members like you and I who have been pulled away from their livelihoods and homes, and this has been going on consistently now for weeks.” Western Cape Rural Fire Brigade fire warden Steve Fairbrother said a deliberately-lit blaze had already decimated more than
INSIDE TODAY
NEWCASTLE BAY BRINGS JOY Page 3
HIGH PRAISE FOR MAYOR Page 5 AUSTRALIA DAY CELEBRATIONS Pages 8 & 9 BARRA COMP THIS WEEKEND Page 6 Urban and rural brigades were managing the blaze that flared up again on Monday morning after threatening homes on Cameron Creek Road near Cooktown over the weekend. Picture: Sarah Martin
300,000ha and would probably take out the same amount of country before it stopped. “We were fighting a 17km fire front on Watson River Station, but luckily with the Watson River crew on the grader widening their fire break, along with the Western
Cape Rural Fire Brigade, we were able to keep it at bay,” he said. While Watson River Station is safe for now, the fire continues to burn and QFES has issued multiple warnings for nearby Aurukun as thick smoke blankets the community.
Watson River manager Russell Scikluna told Cape York Weekly that his team’s early burns and other control measures, including fire breaks, had been instrumental in keeping the fire from destroying too much of the property. Continued – Page 2
BUSH DANCE DRAWS CROWD Page 14
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF THE ALBY!