More than 100 nests of venomous fire ants have been discovered on an army base west of Toowoomba in Queensland, sparking warnings that the potentially deadly pest may be spreading across Defence Force sites.
A shock discovery of 78 fire ant nests was made at the Oakey air base, west of Toowoomba, last week. A further 32 nests have been found since.
Fire ant colonies have been found on Defence land west of Toowoomba in Queensland. Credit: National Fire Ant Eradication Program.
Fire ant bites typically cause a burning sensation that lasts up to an hour but in the worst cases can cause a fatal anaphylactic shock.
Fire ants have been detected in Melbourne and Hobart in the past year, and twice in NSW. None of those detections were as significant as the number of nests found at Oakey.
Authorities say the …