Unauthorised roadside campfire prompts warning for tourists

Australia Broadcast Center

6 days ago

Jil Wilson says she could smell something was wrong at her remote outback roadhouse earlier this month.
"We're smelling smoke and wondering is someone lighting up the bush here, what's going on?" Ms Wilson said.
She said she realised the source when one of her dogs nearly stepped in campfire embers.
Ms Wilson found a roadside campfire on her private property south of Burketown, which she suspects had been left to burn by unauthorised campers.
"There was still a burning log," she said.
"With the grass so close by it could have started a bushfire quite easily, especially with the winds we're getting here at the moment."
Instead of calling into the roadhouse and paying the $15 camping fee for an unpowered site and fire pit, Ms Wilson said the "cheeky campers" likely drove past the camping sign, as well as the private property sign, and opted to camp for free.
"I sort of get people travelling unprepared and it might have been late when everything was shut," she said.
"I could have excused it, but leaving a burning campfire behind is just not fair."
Firefighters responded to more than 200 fires in camping and picnic areas last year across Queensland, according to the Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ).
The organisation's fire mitigation manager Chris Wegger, and Ms Wilson, are urging travellers to be careful with campfires.
"Our message to the travelling community is please consider your safety and the safety of others before lighting a campfire," Mr Wegger said.
He said people wanting a campfire experience should use designated camping areas that had fire rings or pits, instead of lighting a fire on the roadside.
"So the time that a fire does get reported on, there may be a delayed response."
Mr Wegger said mobile reception issues meant people often could not report a fire until they reached the next town with service.
"Campers must always extinguish fires, even in designated fire areas," he said.
The best way to extinguish fires was to use water. Attempting to smother it with dirt or sand was not a solution.
Mr Wegger said the coals left from a fire would remain hot under sand and become a risk for other travellers to step on, or in the right conditions, re-ignite.
Half of the World Heritage-listed island K'gari on the Fraser Coast burnt for six weeks in 2020 after campers unsuccessfully attempted to put a bushfire out with sand.
"You need to make sure that you're taking additional water supplies to extinguish fire," Mr Wegger said.
Burke Shire Mayor Ernie Camp said the council managed several free camping areas using ratepayer income, but also encouraged visitors to use paid camping facilities at local businesses.
After hearing what had happened at Ms Wilson's roadhouse, the mayor said he would be raising the issue of unauthorised camping at the next council meeting.
He said the council would consider increasing signage in the region, but he also believed that existing tourist publications could include more explicit fire safety education.
Cr Camp said his key advice to travellers was to plan ahead and make sure they avoided emergency roadside camping by knowing how far they could realistically travel without getting fatigued.
He and Ms Wilson said most people did the right thing.
"I don't want to paint the picture that everyone is doing the wrong thing here," Ms Wilson said.
"It does happen that every now and again we find cheeky people."
Ms Wilson's roadhouse was inundated by devastating floodwaters in 2023 and 2024, prompting her to raise the building on stilts.
She now lays claim to having the highest roadhouse on the Savannah Way, but does not want another disaster such as a preventable bushfire to wipe out the roadhouse again.
"Anyone that's been in the area lately knows how incredibly dry it is at the moment," Ms Wilson said.
"The wind is just howling so everything is dried to a crisp."