Exhausted crews spent the night battling to get the upper hand as the fire continues to threaten communities between Bundaberg and Gladstone.

On Tuesday morning the blaze began to re-intensify, with heavy smoke making it difficult for firefighters.

A man in his 30s who had been fighting the fire is in Bundaberg Hospital in a stable condition with a heat-related illness.

Crews are now focusing on the Baffle Creek and Oyster Creek area.

"It's been very difficult to manage this fire, the conditions there under the hot temperatures and the winds have made the fire quite erratic and quite dangerous to attack head on," the Rural Fire Service's regional manager Brian Smith said.

But he says conditions will get worse before they get better with strong winds expected to kick in on Wednesday and further test Queensland crews and 100 firefighters who have come up from NSW.

Some Deepwater residents have been plucked from the direct path of the fire while others have jumped in to help emergency services shield their properties at the last minute.

"There's probably been a combination of people leaving it a little bit late to get out but also not understanding or realising the intensity of the fire," Mr Smith said.

"People haven't experienced a fire of this intensity and this speed before in that area, so although they've had a number of fires over the years, this fire was particularly fast moving and intense when it got going."

Hundreds of people have been ordered to leave homes at Deepwater, Baffle Creek, Rules Beach and Oyster Creek west towards Miriam Vale.

Residents of Round Hill, north of the national park, have been told to prepare to flee.

Jenny Khalu runs the Baffle Creek Convenience store with her husband Jeff and says the fire is bearing down on them but they have no plans to leave what is the only source of petrol in the area.

Fire crews will aggressively defend the store where Ms Khalu has been working through the night to make sure emergency services crews can fuel up.

"It's pretty intense, it's heading for us here at the shop," she told AAP on Tuesday.

"We're just digging in here and hoping for the best."

The fire has already burnt through 17,000 hectares and reportedly destroyed four homes. Sheds and caravans have also been damaged.

Fire chief Katarina Carroll will be asking for more interstate support after NSW sent 100 firefighters and Victoria has also pledged to send crews.

Seven aircraft, including a massive water bombing plane which can dump 15,000 litres at a time, are also working on the fire.

"It's so smoky out there we didn't get to see the whole fire, all we got to see was the section we were working on," water-bomber pilot John Gallaher told ABC radio.

"It's going to take people on the ground to put these out. Our role is essentially to slow the fire down for them."

Australian Associated Press