Tinder dry Queensland ready to go up in flames as bush residents ignore danger signs Too many residents are not prepared for a dangerous fire season. QUEENSLAND faces an extreme fire season with tonnes of tinder dry grass ready to go up in flames but firefighters say residents most at risk are ignoring the danger. Suburban residents living near bushland are at risk because of their ignorance of fire and the failure to properly protect their properties during what is shaping up to be one of the worst bushfire seasons in years. Rural firefighters are seeing homes surrounded by trees and enough dry grass to cause a catastrophe if a cigarette is thrown in the wrong place, Often residents have no fire plans or even a sense of danger. "They don't know how vulnerable they are," Mt Forbes Rural Fire Brigade first officer Rob Anderson of Willowbank, said. They have trees right up against their houses. Mr Anderson and crews from the Mount Forbes, Ripley Valley and Flinders Peak brigades were taking advantage of relatively calm winds yesterday to manage an 80ha controlled burn on a cattle property at Peak Crossing. Mr Anderson, who has been fighting fires for 18 years, said conditions were building for an extreme fire season. It's one of the worst ones I've seen in a long time. This year is looking even worse than last year," he said. The crews were ready to finish the job when they were called away urgently to fight a vegetation fire on Redbank Plains Road. Property owners Rodney Morrow and Ann Erskine sought the assistance of the brigades to reduce the fuel load on their property from 4 tonnes to .5 tonne per ha. "We're better doing it this way then waiting for it all to happen," Mr Morrow said, adding that the burned land now was open for green growth and lantana killing. Mr Morrow has been on the land for decades, and understands the threat of fire, but Peak Crossing has many new residents from the city. Mount Forbes brigade firefighter and community educator David Clarke said many people whose properties were at risk have the misperception they don't live in the bush, even with the danger easily apparent to a firefighter. "It's a very big concern," he said. Residents can ask for an assessment fire risk and take time to clear flammable debris from around their homes and clean their gutters.