Two people have died and more than 100 homes have been destroyed in a huge bushfire, Australian authorities said yesterday, as firefighters battled to tame the out-of-control blaze.
The inferno — which has razed about 71,000 hectares in Western Australia state — is the most recent in a series of bushfires that have started a hot summer season, with the latest deaths lifting the national toll to eight.
The two bodies were found in burned-out houses in Yarloop, a historic mill town about 110km south of Perth that has been devastated by the bushfire — one of the worst to hit the region in the past few years.
Photo: AFP
The bodies are believed to be those of two missing men aged 73 and 77, Western Australia Police said.
“It’s just another day of catastrophe, isn’t it?” Tania Jackson, the head of the regional council, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) after news of the men’s deaths. “Each day that has gone by seems to bring worse news. It’s devastating.”
The bushfire — which yesterday entered its fifth day after reportedly being started by a lightning strike — has destroyed 143 properties, including 128 homes in Yarloop, the state’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services said.
About 250 firefighters are fighting the blaze, which has a perimeter of about 226km, and authorities yesterday afternoon said that it was “contained” within the fire zone, but not yet under control, amid cooler weather.
“Overnight and today, favorable conditions came in and it’s a lot cooler here today and that has allowed firefighters to gain more ground on the fire and to increase containment lines,” a department spokeswoman said.
The department said several towns in the region remained under threat.
“Unless you are ready and prepared to actively defend your property, evacuate to the south via the South Western Highway if safe to do so,” it said in an emergency warning.
Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett said the event had been declared a natural disaster, a measure that gives residents access to greater financial support, adding that the “damage bill is going to be very significant.”
Yarloop residents spoke of how the bushfire tore through their town in just seven minutes, as aerial footage showed blackened ground, burned-out shells of vehicles and houses reduced to brick fireplaces.
“During the day, the hills were very dark and smoking,” dairy farmer Joe Angi told the ABC on Saturday. “But the wind picked up just on dark and she’s just come down from the hills, straight down, flat out. It was tumbling over itself like a wave of fire.”
Bushfires are common in Australia’s hotter months, with four deaths in Western Australia in November last year. Another two people perished in neighboring South Australia state in the same month.
The worst of the bushfire season was yet to come, department commissioner Wayne Gregson said.
“There is still another 10 or more weeks to go in what is predicted to be a difficult bushfire season,” Gregson told Perth’s Sunday Times newspaper.
“Late January to early February is traditionally the most intense summer period, when we can experience hot weather with dry winds and seasonal lightning,” he said.
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