Gracetown residents will attend an urgent meeting with Margaret River MLC Barry House today to discuss infrastructure problems in the town following Tuesday afternoon’s fire.

Picture by Sean Blocksidge

Resident Wayne Baddock told the Times the fight against the bushfire was again hindered by poor access and problems with phone reception.

“We need to invest in the infrastructure otherwise someone could die next time and we’ve suffered enough loss of life in this small town,” he said.

Upon spotting the fire, Mr Baddock raced to the top of Sea Hawk Rest in his car and directed people entering the seaside town out of the fire zone.

“The issue was that we stopped people coming in, but no one could get out as a result,” he said.

“I understand FESA issued a flee or defend notice on their website, but there’s nowhere to escape if there’s a fire in the main street.”

Mr Baddock said volunteer firefighters and service vehicles were stalled from fighting the fire because of a traffic jam on Cowaramup Bay Road.

He also said non-existent mobile phone coverage made it increasingly difficult for anyone to know what was happening during the fire.

“I had to stand on the roof of my car with a (very high frequency) marine board radio to find out what was going on in town,” he said.