Fires that swept though subtropical rainforest around the historic Binna Burra lodge are unprecedented, experts say

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Queensland’s former fire commissioner says an erratic bushfire front that climbed into the state’s subtropical rainforest and razed the 86-year-old Binna Burra Lodge is “like nothing we’ve ever seen before”.

“What we’re seeing, it’s just not within people’s imagination,” said Lee Johnson, who spent 12 years in charge of Queensland’s fire service.

“They just didn’t believe it could ever get so bad.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Heritage listed Binna Burra lodge in the Gold Coast Hinterland rainforest, before and after it was destroyed by fire. Composite: Supplied/Seven News

Queensland remains in the grip of one of the worst bushfire threats in its history, fuelled by prolonged dry conditions and fierce gusting winds; an “omen” of a potentially devastating fire season ahead. There are still 52 fires burning across the state. Schools are closed and about 20 structures have been destroyed.

Early on Sunday morning, a fire front climbed into the Lamington national park and razed Binna Burra, a historic eco-tourism lodge built in the 1930s and surrounded by subtropical Gondwana rainforest.

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The heritage-listed main lodge was built in 1933. It has never before been seriously threatened by bushfire, protected in part by lush and damp surroundings that typically suppress the progress of dangerous fires.

“There have certainly been fires in the area before,” said the lodge chairman, Steve Noakes. “Back in the traditional owners’ time there’s evidence of fires, but certainly in the period of European history in this part of Australia, this is the most catastrophic.

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“There’s nothing left to burn at Binna Burra, it’s all gone.”

Last year, Queensland experienced “unprecedented” fire conditions in November – a combination of hot, dry and windy days in tropical and subtropical parts of the state.

A year later, and again conditions are being described in similar terms, the sort that can fuel catastrophic wildfires. Southeast Queensland has been particularly dry; the fire-threatened town of Stanthorpe is almost out of drinking water.

In Lamington national park, the rainforest has had very little recent rain.

Johnson, who is now a director of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, said in those sorts of extremely dry conditions the forest terrain became a potential tinderbox.

“We’ve had a very long history of concern about that area, but we definitely have not seen fire conditions like this,” Johnston said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Heritage listed Binna Burra Lodge in the Gold Coast Hinterland before it was destroyed by fire Photograph: Supplied

“Their terrain is very similar to parts of southern New South Wales and Victoria where bushfires are the norm. In Queensland the potential is there. That country at Lamington national park in particular, the topography is just cruel.

“The weather conditions they’re now facing are just unheard of. The thing about fire, the bush in those conditions, is you can’t actually fight it. The heat generated means you can’t put people or equipment in front of this fires, you just can’t do it.”

Part of the attraction of a place like Binna Burra Lodge is the isolation. There is one narrow access road. About 3am on Sunday morning, concern about the welfare of firefighters forced a retreat. All anyone could do was wait, while the fire front moved through.

“We can’t access the site, it will be cut off for some days because of the rock slides and the tree fall,” Noakes said. “A couple of the emergency services workers hiked in yesterday, they were very brave, but it’s basically a write-off.”

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Noakes said the situation was “a signal to us that we need to take a more proactive approach to climate change”.

“We need to know more about the impact of climate change on subtropical rainforests of Australia and what that means in terms of long-term infrastructure. That’s why people come to Queensland, to experience these places.”

He said Binna Burra would be rebuilt in a way that took into account the likely impacts of climate change.

“Binna Burra is 86 years old. When we position and design and build and operate tourism infrastructure in these sorts of natural environments, we have to think about 50 or 100 years ahead and what changes climate impacts are going to have on the built infrastructure.

“Our responsibility now is to have a vision that is crafted of the knowledge and the understanding of the climate as it will impact on the tropical and subtropical rainforest.”