Cape York bushfire severs phone and internet links for remote communities

A fire in Far North Queensland has disabled landline, ADSL and mobile services for several remote towns, leaving residents unable to call emergency numbers.

A bushfire that ignited Saturday evening in Cape York, Far North Queensland, has disrupted fixed-line, ADSL and mobile connectivity for residents of several isolated towns, including Mapoon, Weipa, Napranum and Aurukun. Telstra sent a technical team from Cairns to the Weipa area on Sunday morning and aims to restore service by the evening, while Optus acknowledged that its customers in the region are also without service.

The federal government confirmed that the Triple Zero emergency-call custodian has been informed of the outage, though Queensland police say they have not experienced any issues contacting the service. Chad King, chief executive of the Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council, said the loss of mobile coverage is especially critical because the community lacks a fixed-phone system, and he urged both Telstra and the government to improve infrastructure to avoid a single point of failure. The council has set up free Wi-Fi to mitigate the impact, but King stressed that the situation is unacceptable for remote First Nations communities.