Storms set to bring relief to firefighters on Granite Belt A STORM warning for the Granite Belt may have been cancelled, but locals are hoping any lingering wet weather will help with the ongoing fire fight. Residents were earlier being warned to prepare for storms bringing hail, damaging winds and possible flash flooding At 4.20pm, The Bureau of Meteorology said a severe thunderstorm was located west of Allora. Damaging winds, heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding and large hailstones were likely. Hailstones of around 3cm were reported west of Allora. A more general severe thunderstorm warning was also issued for parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett, Darling Downs and Granite Belt and Southeast Coast districts. That warning has also been cancelled. Bureau forecaster Dean Narramore said a trough further west combined with north/north-easterly winds and the hot temperatures had set off the afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Hail stones measuring 2-3cm were recorded at Allora just after 4pm while areas around Blackbutt have received 15-20mm of rainfall. "Due to the slow-moving nature, if you're lucky enough to be under them there'll be some pretty good falls of run but they'll be very localised, so a lot of people won't see much at all," Mr Narramore said. Brisbane will remain mostly clear tonight with light north/north-easterly winds. An aerial view of the Ballandean bushfire. Picture: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Source: Supplied The storms is set to bring relief to weary fire fighters in Ballandean. Andrew Efalino from the Bureau of Meteorology said storms have been circling Ballandean this afternoon. "There are some thunderstorms developing around that area, there won't be much dry lighting, because there is some pretty decent rain falling from those cells out there," Mr Efalino said. They will benefit from it, the cells are pretty much circling the area, if they develop over the fire they might put it out, because they are very slow moving thunderstorms, or even showers. They're not actually bringing too much lightning activity, they are producing rainfall. Mark Saunders the First Officer for the Glen Rural Fire Brigade and the Disaster Management Co-ordinator for the Southern Downs Regional Council has been on the front line of the fire since Tuesday. "It's very hot, slow and steady; it's very much a watch and wait game," Mr Saunders said. Once it hits about 2pm it seems to kick off again and you work your ass off for three or four hours. In the morning we have just been patrolling and blackening out the edges as best we can, you sort of get hit about 2pm, the weather goes ordinary on you and the fire starts misbehaving. Then you have to do emergency back burning, which isn't always the best thing, because you aren't doing it on your terms. Yesterday afternoon I lit up a back burn to stop a fire from coming around and it went through an area that had been burnt as part of a hazard reduction 12 months ago. And the next minute it climbed up into the trees and we can't do anything once it's up there, that's why we had to bring the air in on it and bring it back down to ground level for us. I was worried, because the risk of spotting at that time was quite high, which could have boxed us in. Originally published as Storms help fizzle out local fires