Blaze metres from homes
A flare-up of the fire that razed Lake Monjingup Reserve near Esperance last week has come within metres of claiming two residential properties.
The blaze was reignited around noon on Sunday in Lake Monjingup before being blown by strong westerly winds onto private property and coastal reserves, burning through a further 200ha.
Up to 100 people, including volunteers from 10 brigades, fought the fire authorities said was contained by 6pm on Sunday.
Shire of Esperance and Department of Fire and Emergency Services staff were yesterday working to secure the southern boundary of the coastal reserve by re-establishing containment lines with the aid of heavy earthmoving equipment.
Shire emergency services co-ordinator Tom Smitheringale said private properties would have been lost if not for the quick efforts of firefighters.
“It’s a real scene of devastation and a very destructive fire. It has burnt out some large sections of farmland and gone right up to the front door of two private properties — they are extremely lucky,” he said.
“One family was particularly (shaken) by the situation. They had to stay and defend, but I don’t think they had much choice — the fire was moving so quickly.
“We had trucks at both those homes just minutes before the fire was up on their doorstep.” Mr Smitheringale, who ruled out arson as the cause for the fire, warned the forecast for the next week was “not looking favourable”.
“We found the ignition point today, which was a tree which had been burning since last week.
“I guess the weather conditions on Sunday affected that,” he said. yesterday.
“The gusty winds are causing the fire to flare up in places and the crews are getting onto those flare-ups quickly.
“The fuel loads are extremely high and it’s an extremely volatile time of year.”
It is anticipated that 30 volunteer firefighters will be on site monitoring the area for the rest of the week.
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