Grief counsellors arrive in Childers
A team of expert grief counsellors have arrived in the devastated Queensland town of Childers to start working with friends of backpackers who perished in an overnight fire.

Fifteen people have been confirmed dead so far after the inferno ripped through a backpackers hostel in the main street of the town - 330km north of Brisbane - about 12.30am.

Two psychologists and several mental health workers from Bundaberg had already started counselling the survivors and emergency services workers, Bundaberg District Health Services manager Kate Young said today.

"We were contacted at 4.30am this morning and a team has gone to Childers to start critical stress debriefing sessions," she said.

She said the tight-knit township of about 3,000 people were shocked by the tragedy.

"This is really going to strike hard because the backpackers come here to pick fruit and are very welcomed by the Childers community," she said.

"Lots of people are parents, too, with children of about the same age."

No names have been released by police as emergency services officers were continuing to pull bodies from the charred building, which is believed to be an old pub.