Mount Isa Airport and a nearby cattle station were forced to evacuate after one tonne of ammonium nitrate being carried by a forklift had begun to produce smoke at a mine in north-west Queensland.
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The declaration was made just before 2.20pm on Thursday to include a three-kilometre area within the boundaries of Milne Bay Road and the Barclay Highway.
Police received a call about 1pm after a worker raised the alarm when the forklift carrying the hazardous material had started emit smoke, about four kilometres from the city of Mount Isa.
"The chemical could be very poisonous," a police spokeswoman said.
The smoke appeared near a storage area so there were concerns over the possibility that it could spread, a police spokeswoman said.
By 5pm, a police spokesman also said the exclusion zone had been reduced and the highway had re-opened.
The declaration was revoked one-and-a-half hours later.
The Barclay Highway, north from Owen Stanley Road to Moondarra Drive, was closed for about two hours and a grazier's station, May Downs Station, was evacuated.
Queensland Ambulance Services and three Queensland Fire and Emergency Services crews were on the scene at the suburb of Barkly.
Police urged residents to evacuate and to immediately get to the intersection of Barclay Highway and Milne Bay Road.
Travellers were left stranded.
John Rawali lla said he was stuck at Doomadgee, about a one-hour flight from Mount Isa.
"Apparently this happen (sic) about 2.30pm today and they still let us board the plane ... Now they're talking about flying us to Cairns," he posted on Facebook.
