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thewest.com.au
Thursday, February 5, 2015
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PLANE CRASH
MIRACLE
SURVIVORS
PICTURES,
STORY
PAGE 3
Challenge: The Northcliffe fire is
proving difficult to fight because
of forest and a shortage of nearby
water. Picture: DFES
FIRE STORM
South West towns in path of WA’s ‘biggest blaze in decades’
■ Phoebe Wearne, Gabrielle Knowles
and Daniel Emerson
Firefighters were last night battling to save two South West
towns from what authorities fear
will become the biggest bushfire
in WA’s history.
The State Government asked
for more help from the Eastern
States to flight the blaze, which
late yesterday had torn through
about 70,000ha of forest with 50year-old fuel loads.
The biggest fears were for the
town of Northcliffe, which Emergency Services Minister Joe
Francis conceded was “proving
very difficult to defend” because
it was surrounded by forest and
there was a lack of water in the area, so it had to be trucked in.
There were also concerns that
the out-of-control blaze would
PERTH 19-29 Weather details P64
Afternoon shower. Tom: Cloud
clearing, 19-33. Yest: 19.8-32.6
burn through Northcliffe and
reach Pemberton today.
Mr Francis, who flew to Pemberton yesterday with WA fire
chief Wayne Gregson to front a
community meeting, said the
best-case scenario was that fire
crews would start to get on top of
the fire today.
Two properties, only one lived
in, had been lost.
“This is the biggest fire in decades in WA,” Mr Francis said.
“It is going through about
50,000ha of predominantly national park, 50-year-old karri forest, presenting significant challenges for firefighters.
“Even if we get lucky with the
weather, this is a fire that is going
to take days and days — if not
weeks — to finally extinguish
and get under control.”
The blaze raged for the sixth
MORE P6
EDITORIAL, ALSTON,
OPINION P16-17
day yesterday after it almost doubled on Tuesday night.
Details emerged of a dramatic
rescue night by the Department
of Fire and Emergency Services
urban search and rescue team,
who saved a woman trapped on
her property west of Northcliffe.
The rescuers were hailed by
the woman’s desperate husband
as they drove down a dirt track.
Judy Ford, who lives 5km north
of Northcliffe, said there was a
charcoal-coloured
“bank
of
smoke” above the threatened
town yesterday as she prepared
to defend her home.
Deputy incident controller
John Tillman said the town of
Windy Harbour, where about 60
residents, firefighters and police
were trapped, was safe.
He said the eastern front of the
fire had broken containment
lines and jumped the closed
South West Highway last night.
“We are dealing with fuels that
are so old that when it takes off,
you are talking flame heights 30m
above the karri trees,” Mr Tillman said.
Mr Gregson said the extra resources — two aerial tankers and
at least one air crane from Victoria — were due to arrive this
morning. “This is in line with
our commitment to do whatever
it takes with respect to fighting
this fire,” he said.
Resources were stretched further by a fire in the southern part
of Lower Hotham in the Shire of
THE RISE OF ORGANIC AND
BIODYNAMIC WINES FRESH
Boddington. That blaze was
sparked by lightning on Saturday
but warnings were upgraded because of its intensity and the fire
jumping containment lines on
two sides, putting homes under
threat.
“On the way back as I flew past
the Boddington fire, I snapped a
photo out the window of the plane
and it looked like an atomic bomb
had gone off,” Mr Francis said.
More than 130 firefighters from
Victoria arrived late yesterday in
time to start their first 12-hour
shift at 6pm, giving about 50 tired
WA firefighters a rest last night.
Mr Francis said he was confident that WA had every resource
that it could possibly have fighting the blazes.
DFES has issued a total fire ban
for central and southern parts of
WA today.
STORM DEATH
Family grieves for
lightning victim, telling
of ‘caring man’. P5