20 January 2025
- Fire ant nests have been found in North Arm, in the Sunshine Coast region
- National Fire Ant Eradication Program eradication officers are responding.
- Residents and businesses in North Arm are urged to look for and report suspect ants and nests online at fireants.org.au or by calling 132 ANT (13 22 68).
Residents and businesses in North Arm, Sunshine Coast region should be on the lookout for fire ants after a detection in the area.
A vigilant community member discovered and reported a suspect fire ant nest.
On Friday 17 January, our team visited the site and destroyed 6 nests using direct nest injection. The ants were confirmed by our scientists to be fire ants on Friday afternoon.
We will be conducting further treatment and surveillance activities to ensure there are no more nests in the area.
Fire ant detections outside the South East Queensland infestation area do happen from time to time, and our program has procedures in place to deal with them.
Eradicating fire ants requires a whole-of-community approach. We need everyone to look for and report fire ants, let our teams in if we need to conduct eradication activities and take steps not to spread the invasive pest.
Compliance and tracing of fire ant carrier movements in the North Arm area will occur to help determine the source of the ants.
Fire ants are copper brown in colour and have a darker abdomen. They measure 2–6 mm in length with a variety of sizes found in each nest. Fire ant nests appear as mounds or patches of loose soil and have no obvious entry or exit holes.
Fire ants are attracted to disturbed soil and can be transported through the human-assisted movement of organic materials. This is the biggest risk to their spread.
Visit fireants.org.au or call 132 ANT (13 22 68) to learn more about fire ants and what steps you should take to stop them in their tracks.