Guests and staff at Fraser Island-K'gari's Kingfisher Bay Resort and Village have been told to prepare to leave as firefighters try to get a bushfire under control.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services are warning conditions could get worse with the fire currently travelling south from Boon Boon Creek towards the resort.
Extensive water bombing on Tuesday helped to slow the spread of the fire and efforts will continue on Wednesday
Multiple crews are working to contain the fire and QFES have advised people to call triple zero if they believe properties are under threat.
All those at the Kingfisher Bay Resort and Village should follow the directions of QFES, and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service officers.
The fire on the world's largest sand island, off Queensland's east coast, has been raging for more than six weeks and is consuming large swathes of the island's unique forests.
The massive bushfire has already destroyed 40 per cent of the UNESCO world heritage-listed island.
"The vegetation on Fraser Island is extremely dry and because it's so dry it's therefore very easy to ignite," incident controller James Haig said on Monday.
About two-thirds of Queensland, including K'gari, is currently gripped by drought.
According to a recent report, climate change is fuelling more extreme droughts, bush fires and cyclones in Australia - which they said will only worsen as temperatures continue to rise.
An aerial image of the K'gari/Fraser Island fire captured on Monday, 30 November, 2020. Source: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services
Firefighters on K'gari are not only battling "very challenging weather conditions", Mr Haig said, but are stymied by limited access to the blaze in the island's remote north.
As the fire inched closer to settlements in recent days, authorities have banned new visitors from travelling to the popular holiday destination and restricted ferry services until further notice.
A file image of K'gari/Fraser Island. Source: Supplied
'We really need rain'
Mr Haig said as many as 10 water-bombing aircraft had been deployed to fight the fire, including some tasked with protecting culturally significant Aboriginal sites.
Planes dropped about 250,000 litres of water on Saturday alone, but Haig said these efforts "will not stop the fire" but merely slow its progress.
"We really need rain and we're unfortunately not likely to receive it for some time," he said.
The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service imposed a seven-day fire ban in the area starting late on Monday, as firefighters brace for an extended stretch of difficult weather conditions.
K'gari - known for its large population of dingoes, or native wild dogs - was listed as a world heritage site for its rainforests, freshwater dune lakes and complex system of sand dunes that are still evolving.
It means paradise in the language of the Butchulla Aboriginal people who have lived on the island for at least 5000 years.
The spectacular setting attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists a year.
Mr Haig said firefighters were trying to balance their management of the blaze - which is believed to have been sparked by an illegal campfire - with the need to avoid inflicting any further environmental damage.
Smaller bush fires are burning elsewhere in Queensland as temperatures there soared after a weekend heatwave saw records tumble in Australia's southeast, including in Sydney where the city's residents sweltered through two days above 40 degrees Celsius over the weekend.
Australia is still reeling from the devastating 2019-20 fires, which burned an area roughly the size of the United Kingdom and left 33 people dead as tens of thousands fled their homes.
The climate change-fuelled fire season also killed or displaced nearly three billion animals.
Australia is one of the world's leading fossil fuel exporters and the Morrison government has dragged its heels on tackling carbon emissions, despite recent polling showing Australians are increasingly concerned about climate change.
