Western Australia’s bushfire emergency has eased after homes and lives were threatened by a string of fires, one forcing the evacuation of a nursing home.
High temperatures and strong winds fanned the flames with blazes reported to the north and south of Perth, on the state’s southwest coast and in the Goldfields.
At one stage, emergency warnings were in place for at least two blazes, one at Kwinana on Perth’s southern outskirts and another further south at Rockingham.
A fire at Gosnells, in the city’s southeast, forced authorities to move 150 nursing home residents to a nearby evacuation centre on Sunday night.
That blaze was quickly brought under control with most of the residents allowed to return.
About 50 remained at the evacuation centre overnight but were expected to return to their homes on Monday.
One residential unit at the facility was totally destroyed, but was not occupied at the time, while another six had superficial damage.
Department of Fire and Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Craig Waters said by Monday afternoon all except the Kwinana fire, which had been downgraded to a watch and act message, were under control.
“We’ve got a little bit of work to do around the Kwinana incident, but all the others around the state a looking fairly good at this time,” he said.
The Kwinana fire has destroyed about 240 hectares of scrub since it was sparked on Sunday afternoon but its cause is yet to be determined.
At one stage it spread to a rubbish tip at Medina, raising concerns over toxic fumes.
About 120 firefighters remained on the fireground with the dump expected to burn for at least another day or two.
There were no reports of any major property losses.
Parts of the Western Australian capital are being engulfed in smoke as bushfires rage near homes.
UGC
Mr Waters said with temperatures expected to hit the high 30s later this week, there were concerns for more incidents.
“Whenever you come into a period of really hot weather coupled with extremely high easterly winds, we’re always going to be in for a world of hurt,” he said.
The weekend fires also prompted the first deployment this summer of a large air tanker brought over from the eastern states.
It made three significant drops, including one on the Kwinana blaze.
