Fire destroys neighbouring homes in Qld

Two families are homeless after fire destroyed neighbouring houses in the central Queensland city of Rockhampton.

A home at Depot Hill caught alight about 1am (AEST) on Friday, and quickly spread to the property next door.

At one stage firefighters feared people may have been trapped, but everyone has since been accounted for.

Fire service officer Gavin Shuker said crews had to fight hard to stop a third house from going up.

"We turned up to one house well alight and with two houses under threat. One of the houses was just too close and it caught alight and has been lost as well," he told The Morning Bulletin.

"The house on the southern side actually started to smoke, got burn marks and melting and actually started to light up within the eaves, but we managed to save that."

A family of four lived in one of the homes that was lost, and a family of five in the other, the paper said.

Mr Shuker said firefighters had done well to contain the fire to just two homes.

"In this area, Depot Hill, (homes) are all built with wood ... the houses catch alight very quickly once a fire starts."