‘Like a hell': Sunshine Coast locals see suburban street become a firestorm

In the eerie early hours of Monday morning, as the wind changed and the bushfire near Peregian Springs on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast doubled back towards where it was started, locals watched the suburban streets become “like a firestorm”.

There are 80 bushfires burning across Queensland and
 more than 50 across NSW. A fire in the northern NSW
town of Drake on Monday.

“The sky was orange and no one was here,” said Mike Dekker, who stayed behind with a neighbour, defying advice to leave, to defend their homes.

“This was honestly, not even exaggerating, like a hell, especially with those embers. The fire is one thing, with the firefighters extinguishing it, but the embers, they were everywhere. There was this massive ember rain. Watching them go onto the roof, it was scary.”

Authorities were still assessing the damage at Peregian and the fire was still burning dangerously on Tuesday, though the immediate threat had shifted to the north. Residents of Marcus Beach joined hundreds of others evacuated to nearby Noosa Heads.

Read the story from The Guardian by Ben Smee  - “‘Like a hell': Sunshine Coast locals see suburban street become a firestorm.”