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What they're saying about the QLD fires

* 'If you have children with you, you need to think really hard about not losing a house, but losing the people you care most about. People will burn to death. The normal approaches probably won't work if this situation develops the way it is predicted to develop. It is no different to a Category 5 cyclone coming through your door.'

Brian Smith, Regional Manager for the Rural Fire Services Central Region, says experts have predicted catastrophic conditions in the area south of Bundaberg.

* 'This is something we don't want to overstate, but they're comparing this to the conditions in the Waroona fires in Western Australia, which completely wiped out a town a few years ago, and also to the recent California fires,' he told AAP.

Fire and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford said the conditions reminded him of the Ash Wednesday fires in Victoria.

* 'I'm sure that some people have probably got very good and elaborate systems of pumps and dams and systems and they believe that 'I'll be OK and I know what I'm doing and I've done this before'. Today is not one of those days. Today is different. We are expecting a firestorm.'

Fire and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford warns conditions are so dangerous people could die.

* 'What we're expecting in Queensland today is the kind of conditions (that other states) have seen in the past - these are the kind of days where people could lose their lives.'

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warns people who refuse to leave might not be rescued.

* 'We may not be able to rescue you once the fire reaches containment lines. Even if you are on the beach, the wind conditions are so dangerous we will not be able to send people in to remove you.' Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

 

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