Western Australia fire declared a national disaster
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Version 0 of 1. A large bushfire that has burned more than 80,0000 hectares of forest and private land in Western Australia’s south west has been declared a national disaster. The fire near Northcliffe 350km south of Perth has been burning for seven days and forced the evacuation of the town on Tuesday. On Friday, the state’s premier, Colin Barnett, told a community meeting in Pemberton, about 30km north of Northcliffe, that the fire had been declared a natural disaster, meaning the area would be eligible for state and federal assistance. The assistance will include personal hardship grants, financial assistance to local government, and interest rate subsidies for small businesses and primary producers who have been directly impacted by the fire. About 40 people spent Thursday night in the Pemberton evacuation centre after being asked to leave Northcliffe. The ABC reported that incident controller Roger Armstrong told the meeting that people could be allowed to return to their homes in Northcliffe “sometime in the next 24 to 36 hours”. “We have to make sure all the access, power infrastructure and so on is safe before we let you in,” Armstrong said. The area was still under an emergency alert on Friday but the threat was less severe. Firefighters took advantage of cooler conditions and light rainfall on Friday morning to strengthen containment lines around the fire’s 270km perimeter. Russell Jones, media liaison officer with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, said firefighters were particularly concerned about two patches on the fire’s northern flank and one on the eastern flank on Friday morning, but were unable to back-burn because of the rain. Jones said firefighters were hopeful of “good news from local weather” on Saturday and Sunday, despite forecast temperatures of up to 40C on Sunday. But he said the hot and humid conditions would add to firefighter fatigue. About 130 Victorian firefighters arrived to relieve West Australian volunteers on Thursday, after some local volunteers pulled 30-hour shifts. More firefighters from New South Wales are expected to arrive on Saturday. The fire department declared a total fire ban across all southern and central areas of Western Australia on Friday, citing “strain on firefighting resources”. Jones said about 200 firefighters and 60 support staff were working on the fire on Friday, but only 100 were on the front line. Firefighters are camping in a tent city built by Australian defence force troops in Manjimup. The fire has destroyed two houses and five sheds, and caused a number of roads to buckle. Perth was blanketed by smoke from a second large fire at Boddington, about 130km south of the city, on Friday. Smoke from the 50,000ha fire was reported as far north as Geraldton, 534km away. The fire has destroyed the historic Long Gully Bridge on the 1,000km-long Bibbulmun Track at Dwellingup, as well as a house and several sheds. The state’s Department of Parks and Wildlife confirmed the loss on Facebook on Friday. The 128m-long trestle bridge was built by WA Government Railways in 1949. In recent years it has been used by walkers crossing the Murray river on the Bibbulmun track, which runs from Albany to the Perth Hills. |