GREENSHOOTS are beginning to appear in towns impacted during last year’s unprecedented north Queensland bushfires.
The town of Eungella became ground zero as a fire that had been slow burning for a month suddenly flared up during the heatwave in late November.
Tinder-dry conditions presented the perfect storm as fire threatened the town.
Cloudbreak Lowlines owner Mandy Tennent said a fire burnt through rainforest near Broken River and came within a couple of hundred metres from their property.
Firefighters managed to protect their dry paddocks, which are now a lush green after 230mm of rain was dumped in early December, putting out the last of the fires.
“It’s just beautiful and green now, it’s incredible, a different world,” Mrs Tennent said.
“We had some decent rain come that was enough to slow the fires down.
“It was just so dry beforehand, I don’t know if it was all the lightning and electrical activity that put nitrogen into the ground, but it’s now greener than I’ve ever seen.”
It comes an independent review is set to be undertaken to analyse the bushfires that devastated communities in Queensland late last year.
The fires, which swept through parts of Central and North Queensland in November and early December, are the focus of the 2018 Queensland Bushfires Review being undertaken by the Inspector-General Emergency Management.
Fire and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford today said an independent research company, MCR, had been engaged to survey effected Queenslanders in three main areas.