Goldfields joins southern fire fight
Volunteers from the Goldfields-Esperance Region have joined the fight against an out-of-control fire in the State’s south.
Flying from Kalgoorlie-Boulder airport on Friday afternoon, 10 volunteers from Kambalda, Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie received a quick briefing from Department of Fire and Emergency Services area officer McCallum Johnson before setting off for Boddington.
As the team left the departure lounge, news arrived that Premier Colin Barnett had told a community meeting in Pemberton the area would be declared a natural disaster area.
Less than 14 hours later, volunteers assembled on the Esperance foreshore before following in the footsteps of their northern counterparts towards the South West.
Volunteer Russ Hounslow told the Kalgoorlie Miner the team was “going well”.
“There is lots of strengthening containment lines, but we are starting to see some flare ups with the wind change we just got,” he said at 2pm yesterday.
It was a message repeated by DFES, which warned forecast high winds and temperatures were to make operations difficult.
A DFES spokeswoman said yesterday that most volunteers from around the State, including the Goldfields, were reporting to logistics officer to assist with efforts.
Helitacs from the east coast, which momentarily touched down in Kalgoorlie-Boulder to refuel on Saturday morning, were deployed at Boddington and surrounds to drop fire retardant. As Mr Johnson explained at Kalgoorlie Airport on Friday, DFES had sent out a mission statement to regional departments requesting assistance with fire suppression and mop-up activities.
“With the Boddington fire down there now, it was predicted that the fire was likely to threaten Boddington town site, so there was a request put in for extra dozers and people,” Mr Johnson said. “What your role and responsibility is — we’re not sure yet.” Mr Barnett said assistance, provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, would provide councils and State agencies with much-needed funding to undertake clean-up and recovery operations and to repair damaged essential public assets.
The fire forced the closure of two parks near Boddington, Leschenault Conservation Park and Wellington National Park.
Schools in Boddington were expected to open today.
Goldfields volunteer Trevor Jones fights the flames. Picture: Russ Hounslow
