Simpson Desert roadhouse destroyed by early-mornin...

A remote roadhouse in the Simpson Desert in south-west Queensland has been gutted by fire, leaving residents and travellers without crucial access to fuel and groceries.

The Simpson Desert Oasis Roadhouse in Bedourie caught fire in the early hours of this morning, destroying the petrol station.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services were called to the site about 3:50am following reports of a structure fire.

The inside of the Simpson Desert Oasis in Bedourie was extensively damaged following a fire on Tuesday morning.(Supplied: Michelle Dillon)

A spokesperson for QFES told the ABC the fire was mostly out and smouldering when crews arrived at the scene at 4:30am.

The fire broke out in the roof and storage space, causing significant damage, according to QFES.

The circumstances that caused the fire are not yet known.

Local community to the rescue

Local woman Michelle Dillon said her husband received a phone call from one of the owners just before 4am to let them know the building was on fire.

She said they ran to help put out the blaze.

The Simpson Desert Oasis roadhouse was structurally damaged in a fire on Tuesday morning.(Supplied: Justin Bell)

"A handful of us tried to extinguish the fire as much as we could...to save the building, but the building is pretty much gutted," she said.

Most of the town was at the scene and worked to put out the fire with the towns small Rural Fire Service crew.

"We all grabbed a hose and anything we could possibly get and we all sort of did what we needed to do while the boys attended to the main area and we kept watering the building down...it was fairly intense but we managed to keep the structure there," Mrs Dillon said.

"Once daylight arrived, we could see the extent of what was going on.

"It just went right through the roof from one end of the building to the other and the damage is quite extensive."

Find more local news Only store in town

The Roadhouse is the only place locals and tourists can fuel up on the 382 kilometre stretch of road between Boulia and Birdsville.

Mrs Dillon said the community would really feel the loss of the roadhouse.

"It has everything, it's our food, it's our watering hole and fuel you know, everything we need and we don't have that anymore which is really sad," she said.

Bedourie Rural Fire Brigade putting out the fire inside the Simpson Desert Oasis Roadhouse.(Supplied: Michelle Dillion)

"We're 200 kilometres from the nearest town."

Queensland Police Service are investigating the incident, and extra QFES personnel have been flown to Bedourie to assist.