No time to save $1.2m home, BMW
Western Power and EnergySafety are investigating whether a State-owned power pole was responsible for a bushfire that gutted a $1.3 million holiday home in the South West.
Cairnhill Homestead, owned by Perth lawyer Richard Camm and wife Debbie, was destroyed on Monday afternoon when fire tore through the 10-acre Yallingup property.
The Camm’s $85,000 car was also lost in the blaze which threatened other homes before fire-fighters brought it under control.
Ashley Jones, who owns the nearby Gunyulgup Gallery, said he heard a loud explosion about 4.55pm.
“There was a ‘pop’ then the power went down,” Mr Jones said. “I looked to the south, up to Cairnhill, and I saw a very small puff of smoke.
“The fire was immediately below the power pole.”
Mr Jones said a resulting grass fire quickly spread east toward the luxury four-bedroom homestead.
“It took a very short time for the fire to move up the hill, probably minutes,” he said.
“The next thing we heard was this unbelievable sound which we later learned was the gas bottles on the western wall of Cairnhill exploding … it emitted one of the most horrendous sounds you could imagine.
“You just didn’t know whether to hang around or not.”
Mr Camm told the ABC he and Debbie were at the property when the fire started. He said the flames moved so fast that they “had to get out as quickly as we could”.
Mr Camm said a neighbour helped the couple escape and “we basically left with what clothes we had on”.
Investigators from Western Power were at Cairnhill yesterday and a report will be prepared for EnergySafety.
A Western Power spokesman said the power pole being examined belonged to the State-owned electricity utility but the cause of the fire had not been determined.
EnergySafety will carry out its own investigation.
Mr Jones said he felt lucky the wind was not blowing in a different direction or his gallery and nearby restaurant Little Fish would have been “history”.
He praised the “gutsy” effort of volunteer fire-fighters who were credited with saving five neighbouring homes through the night.
One firefighter was treated in hospital for heat exhaustion.
