Firefighters battle to keep Gold Coast bushfire away from homes

Dozens of crews have been battling a bushfire in the Gold Coast Hinterland for more than 24 hours.

The flames broke out on Friday afternoon, forcing backburn operations, as emergency crews raced to protect nearby homes.

More than 20 crews entered a brutal battle, fighting fire with fire, in the Gold Coast Hinterland in the middle of the night.

The blaze ignited at midday on Friday in the Wongawallan Gully but the Rural Fire Brigade and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) were armed and ready.

"We've had crews on the fire trying to control the fire in the steep terrain with lots of properties to protect," Neil Parker from QFES told 9News.

Their mission was to backburn before the flames could reach nearby homes – a quest that stretched long into the night.

“It wasn’t too much of an issue at the start, and then, the knock at 12 o’clock/ midnight was probably game on,” local resident Arran Blomfield told 9News.

Three firefighters were hospitalised and one suffered a foot injury, while two others were treated for heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation.

"As you can see, it's very 25, 30 degree slopes, and these volunteers, they worked all night keeping the community safe," Parker said.

Today their operation scaled up to over 30 crews as flames came just metres from hinterland homes.

"Obviously we're a bit nervous around here, yeah, we're preparing as best we can," resident Belinda Campbell told 9News.

"We're so lucky, most of them are volunteers, so we're very thankful."

In the afternoon, a wind change brought fresh challenges as billows of smoke blanketed the mountain.

"The hope was that we're going to have the back burning completed by that time," Matt Walker from QFES said.

"Unfortunately a few things happened and it's a bit harder than we thought."

There are suspicions the Gully fire was deliberately lit, but the fire department is yet to investigate.