Homestead will rise from ashes

The owner of the Southampton Homestead has vowed to restore the heritage building to its former glory after it was gutted by fire last week.

Owner Jeff Pow said he had received assurances from an architect, engineer and insurers that the Victorian-Georgian building could be rebuilt.

"The fire will now become a part of its long history," he said.

The homestead, which was built in 1862 12km south of Balingup, was caught in the path of a 40m-high wall of flame that plunged into the valley near Blackwood River and destroyed everything in its path as several fires tore through three shires in the South West.

Mr Pow told how his partner's father Leo was forced to rescue their three dogs and flee the property on Wednesday.

He was heartbroken to learn many of his field animals had died in the blaze but said he was amazed their ducks, chickens, geese and his horse managed to shelter from the fire.

"That they escaped the inferno in the paddocks and knew to go there is nothing short of a miracle," he said.

"It is the only surviving patch of grass in the valley."

He said the support his family had received, in the form of clothing, food and accommodation, was "uplifting."

"We have received an enormous number of messages of shock and disbelief from around the world through SMS and Facebook as the terrible news spread," he said. He did not believe firefighters could have done any more to save his property.

"If I had been here at the time, I would have stayed and defended and there's not much I could have done and possibly would have perished in the fire so DEC did the best they could as did DFES and friends and family," he said.

He renewed calls for State and Federal governments to subsidise the cost of installing fire defence systems on historic properties.

The systems use pipes mounted on the roof to saturate the property with water in the event of a fire.

Mr Pow said it was a government's duty to help cover costs to protect precious buildings because they were enjoyed by the whole community.

Businessman Michael Chaney, who owns Wallcliffe House, said he had a similar system installed but it had not protected the heritage property from being razed in the Margaret River fire in 2011.

"The fire was so intense that the water evaporated," Mr Chaney said.