Firefighters come up for air after hellish few days battling five out-of-control bushfires at the same time

WA firefighters are coming up for air after a hellish few days in which they battled five out-of-control infernos simultaneously across the Great Southern and Wheatbelt. The raging blazes at Arthur River, Narrikup, Forrestania, Bremer Bay, and Northam burnt through more than 50,000ha of WA’s regional heartland at the weekend after raging at an emergency level at the same time on Friday January 24. Just the Forrestania blaze was at a Bushfire Watch and Act level by Tuesday morning, but thousands of homes were still without power after what Western Power labelled “complex weather” sparked more than 100 pole-top fires across WA. More than 40,000ha of scrub was burned across the Wheatbelt in the Forrestania blaze, which was burning south-west of the Jilbadji Nature Reserve near the Covalent Lithium mine. Shire of Yilgarn president Wayne Della Bosca said he believed no farmland had been destroyed but more than 50 firefighters — including four units from his Shire — had been battling the out-of-control blaze. The worst property damage was at Arthur River, where 11,000ha and four homes were destroyed after an uncontained fire was reported about 1pm on Friday, sparking an emergency warning. Among the properties destroyed was a 100-year-old homestead at Wedgecarrup, which left the Spurr family with just the clothes on their backs. West Arthur chief bushfire control officer Graham Peirce said the community had rallied together alongside aerial tankers sent to help. “There was a huge community turnout . . . it was amazing for these country areas,” he said. The Narrikup fire, also reported about 1pm on Friday and potentially caused by a broken power line, destroyed 240ha and an old farmhouse on Yellanup Road before being brought under control by Sunday morning. A DFES spokesman said there had been 14 appliances on the scene, with volunteers from surrounding areas and career firefighters from Albany brought in to help. Shire of Plantagenet president Len Handasyde said it had been a “shocker” of a fire, amid some of the worst conditions he’d seen. Mr Handasyde said he believed the blaze was caused by a gust of wind causing something to “hit the line and shorten it”. “The line is in very good condition, but this can happen in extreme conditions,” he said. “The day was a shocker . . . probably some of the worst conditions I’ve seen in a long time. “We were well prepared, probably as well prepared as we’ve ever been for these types of conditions, so when the fire got going, people were on the road and on the scene very quickly.” A fourth blaze sparked by lightning razed 1400ha of land in the shire of Jerramungup, east of Bremer Bay, at the weekend, before being downgraded just after 11am on Sunday. No cause for the Forrestania fire had been determined at the time of print, but both the Arthur River and Narrikup fires were believed to have been caused by powerlines either sagging or breaking in the wind. Firefighters and police at Northam had their hands full at the weekend, with one of two blazes that burned 50ha — putting homes and lives at risk — believed to have been deliberately lit. A 36-year-old man has since been charged with igniting one of the blazes. Thousands of homes across the Wheatbelt were still without power on Monday and Tuesday, including at Arrowsmith, Eneabba, Badgingarra, Jibberding, Dowerin, Quelagetting, and Wubin. A Western Power spokesman said outages could last for an “extended period”, with pole replacements taking up to eight hours. Speaking at the opening of a $14.5 million fire station in Byford on Saturday, WA Premier Roger Cook said emergency services crews worked “tirelessly” in an unusual set of weather events. He said the fires had been caused by “high humidity, some rainfall, heat and wind”, and pledged a $97 million package to “better prepare communities for the threat of natural disasters”. “Obviously, it presented a very difficult set of circumstances for those bush firefighters who were on the scene,” Mr Cook said.