WA may call on eastern states to help fight fire

Officials said yesterday that the bushfire had burnt through the town, razing 95 homes and leaving three people unaccounted for.

A team of 60 are being flown in from New South Wales, to help deal with the fire which destroyed more than 100 homes at Yarloop, south of Perth.

Emergency warnings are in place for nearby towns.

“It continues to be an extremely hard fire for us – it is still a challenge, (we are) not out of the woods yet”.

She said: “He goes to bed early, around 7.30pm, so we’re anxious that he turned off his hearing aid and went to sleep and then the houses went up so quickly”.

DFES Commissioner Wayne Gregson defended the process and said firefighters were exhausted after battling the giant blaze for several days.

More favourable weather conditions Sunday allowed firefighters to establish containment lines around the enormous blaze.

“I know that there were three other people unaccounted for who have since turned up, but the original three people who we’ve had concerns for initially are still outstanding”.

More than 200 firefighters and support stuff are now fighting the blaze, using about 50 fire trucks and 24 heavy construction vehicles, such as bulldozers or excavators.

The fire is now heading east and emergency warnings remain in the areas east of townsites Hamel, Yarloop, Waroona and the shires of Harvey and Waroona.

Western Australia’s Premier Colin Barnett declared the event a natural disaster, a measure that gives residents access to greater financial assistance, adding the “damage bill is going to be very significant”.

The West Australian government has promised a full review into the response of the deadly bushfire amid criticisms from residents.

Four people were killed in a series of bushfires sparked by lightning in Western Australia last November.

Australia’s worst firestorm in recent years devastated parts of the southeastern state of Victoria in 2009, killing 173 people and destroying thousands of homes.