Fires that tore through Western Australia’s agricultural heartland overnight scorching farmland and destroying homes still pose a threat.
Twin fires hit the Wheatbelt, about 250km east of Perth, yesterday afternoon as catastrophic fire conditions throughout the region brought gusty winds and temperatures over 40°C.
The bushfires came after two other major fires destroyed homes in southern WA on Saturday in Denmark and Bridgetown in a horrific weekend for firefighters.
On Sunday afternoon, four emergency bushfires were burning at once across the south of the state.
Today it has been revealed the fires have burned through more than 60,000 hectares of bushland, destroyed at least six homes and damaged businesses, sparking widespread power outages for thousands of residents.
DFES Duty Assistant Commissioner Rick Curtis said the fire was still posing a threat: ‘The fire size inclusive of one just to the west near Quairading is in the vicinity of 35,000 hectares. That is a significant fire print.’
Mr Curtis said the coming hours might see some change to the fire’s severity: ‘Over the next 12 or 24 hours we will see some traction gain on that fire and with that we will start to see some retraction or contraction of the emergency warning areas.’
Residents are being warned the road network remains closed while safety inspections are carried out.
Mr Curtis said more than 1,300 personnel had been involved in battling the bushfires so far. ‘We’ve had over a thousand firefighters in the last 48 hours on firegrounds across the south-west of the state,’ he told ABC Radio Perth.
For more information, go to www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-07/bushfires-hit-wa-wheatbelt-in-devastating-weekend/100809216
