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The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and Partners has issued a smoke warning to residents of several localities in the Gladstone region.
The QPWS & P will be conducting planned burning within Mount Maurice State Forest from Monday (May 10), weather permitting.
The burn is part of the annual hazard reduction/conservation management program for parks and forests.
As a result, smoke may be seen in the Burua, Wurdong Heights and Beecher areas over coming days.
The aim of this burning is to reduce the volume of forest fuels and to create a mosaic pattern of burnt and unburnt areas.
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Smoke could impact the Beecher, Kirkwood and Mount Maurice areas as well as greater Gladstone from Monday, with controlled burns planned by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
The Department of Environment and Science advised of the ground burning within the Mount Maurice State Forest.
“Operations are planned from Monday April 12, 2021, weather permitting, as part of the annual hazard reduction conservation management program for parks and forests,” the DES said in a statement.
“As a result, smoke may be seen in the Mount Maurice, Beecher and Kirkwood areas.
“Smoke may be visible in these areas over several days as the fire is staged progressively.”
I don t go out in the trucks much anymore, Pat said. When he was fighting those fires I was in incident control and was arranging crews to go out to the fires. Pat and Errol Noye have volunteered for the Turkey Beach Rural Fire Brigade since 2006 and in August they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. There a couple of times when you hear on the radio things getting hairy and it can get quite stressful. Last year Errol was deployed to fight the New South Wales bushfires. I did worry about him then because the fires are much more intense than what we have here, she said.
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Santa traded in his sleigh for a fire truck as he made his way around Gladstone spreading joy on Christmas Eve.
The Mount Maurice Rural Fire Brigade had its annual Santa run on Thursday where the crew drove around the streets handing out treats for all the nice children and playing their sirens.
Crew leader Alex Gray said the annual run was a way to bring smiles to children’s faces while providing the community with information about the rural fire brigade.
“It’s just for fun,” Mr Gray said.
“We go around at a walking pace and play the sirens every 30 seconds or so