Bushfires in Perth Hills, Western Australia February 2021
The 2021 Wooroloo bushfire was a fast moving bushfire that started on 1 February in Wooroloo, north-east of the Perth central business district, in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia. By 2 February, the bushfire emergency had spread to Shires of Chittering and Northam, and the City of Swan. It had destroyed at least 86 houses and 2 fire trucks. By 6 February, the bushfire had travelled from its source. The fire coincided with a five day lockdown of the Perth metropolitan region that started at 6pm on 31 January, due to a case of COVID-19 outside of hotel quarantine. In July 2021, WA Police charged a man with a breach of duty and carrying out an activity that could cause a fire, alleging that he used an angle grinder that caused sparks.
Background.
In November 2020, most parts of Perth recorded record high rainfalls for November. Gidgegannup recorded of rainfall, beating the previous record of that was set in 1985. This caused large amounts of grass and plant growth. In December 2020 and January 2021 however, Perth recorded less than of rainfall, resulting in the grass and plants drying up.
Timeline.
1 February.
The fire started near Werribee Road, Wooroloo on Monday 1 February 2021, with the fire first reported at 12:02pm. Weather conditions were harsh with the daytime temperature at with strong winds. By 1pm, an emergency warning had been issued to residents of Wooroloo, Bailup and Gidgegannup, who were urged to evacuate. An evacuation centre was opened at Brown Park Complex in Swan View. 500 firefighters and 95 vehicles were sent to fight the fire, along with aircraft water bombers. By 3:42pm, was reported burnt as the fire moved in a north-westerly direction.
The fire was moving rapidly through the day and jumped across Toodyay Road ( from the fire source), and the Walyunga National Park ( from the fire source) came under threat. Fire officials said firefighters were battling spot fires that were appearing around in front of the fire. 120 local horses were relocated from the fire area to the State Equestrian Centre in the afternoon but had to be relocated to Middle Swan when the Equestrian Centre came under threat of the fire. By 6pm, the first reports of destroyed houses were received and reported as seven. DFES reported at 11 pm that of land had burnt and issued emergency warnings for Gidgegannup, Brigadoon, Upper Swan and Bullsbrook. Fire services recorded that one firefighter had received minor burns, one suffered smoke inhalation, and two fire trucks were destroyed by fire.
2 February.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) was advising that 80 per cent of properties in Tilden Park, Gidgegannup had been lost. Earlier in the day, 30 properties were reported lost with no loss of life. A large aerial tanker, the "Marie Bashir", a 737 aircraft that can carry of water or fire retardant, was on route from the NSW Rural Fire Service and was due in Western Australia by 5pm. A smoke alert was issued by DFES that stretched from Joondalup in the northern suburbs to Fremantle in the south with ash falling in many non-fire suburbs including suburbs close to the central business district. The fire continued in a west-south-westerly direction. By 4pm, the fire had burnt through with an perimeter.
By 6pm, the houses destroyed rose to 59 and over destroyed. A DFES spokesperson said of the 59 homes lost, fifteen to twenty houses were lost on the eastern side of Toodyay Road. By the end of the afternoon, the winds were northerly and the firefighters were attempting to build firebreaks on the northern and southern flanks of the fire areas as the wind was expected to change to south-easterly over the next few days. Western Power had reported 2,700 properties without electricity due to the destruction of the power lines to those areas. 308 horses, evacuated from various areas in the fire zone the day before, were stabled at the Magic Millions complex. A total of six firefighters were reported to have sustained minor injuries.
3 February.
The morning briefing saw the fire commissioner Darren Klemm comment that the fire had not moved much overnight, but they were struggling with fire on the northwest front as the hilly terrain hindered the fire crews and equipment. Weather conditions continued to be hot and windy. Winds were south to southeasterly at in the late morning, changed to the south to southwesterly at in the afternoon before changing later to with gusts expected to be in the hills during the evening. The daytime temperature dropped to . Water bombers returned in the morning and were used to set up lines of retardant in the morning. It was confirmed that forty-three homes were lost in the estate of Tilden Park, while seventy-one were recorded as lost in total with over of land burnt by the morning.
In the morning, residents of the Shady Hill estate, and the outskirts of east Bullsbrook, were urged to have their bushfire plans in place. But by midday, residents of those areas were asked to evacuate in a northerly direction when the wind changed. A total of 2,000 Shady Hills and East Bullsbrook residents were asked to evacuate. In the area northwest of Gidgegannup and east of Walyunga National Park, anyone remaining could no longer leave and were told to defend in place. The RAAF Base Pearce, northwest of the fire, though not under direct threat, became a watch and act zone. A spokesperson for the Australian Defence Force said the airbase at Pearce had been evacuated and that the only personnel remaining would be supporting the bushfire air support and all ordnance was safely stored and posed no risk. The base's runways were unusable to the fire bombers as work had been carried out on them. Sixty-nine suburbs of Perth were on alert with sixteen in immediate danger. At the end of the day, had been burnt and 300 firefighter and 20 aircraft involved in the effort to slow the blaze with and a second large tanker was due from NSW. The evening and overnight saw winds that were causing spot fires 200m ahead of the main fire.
The WA Police arson squad announced they had established the origin of the fire near Werribee Road, Wooroloo and did not believe it was suspicious but were investigating further with DFES investigators. Police Commissioner Chris Dawson dismissed rumours that the fire had been started by fireworks or a meth lab. There were two reports of thefts at evacuated homes, one in Aveley and the other in Red Hill which the police commissioner regarded as burglary, not looting. The DFES Deputy Commissioner said that they were investigating whether it was feasible to bring fire crews in from interstate as some local fire crews had been working for three days. A second large air tanker, Bomber 137, was sent from RAAF Richmond to Busselton for operational use from 4 February.
WA Department of Communities opened two more evacuation centres, one at Swan Active in Midvale and another at Swan Active in Beechboro. 700 people had registered at the department's evacuation points, with 230 sleeping overnight. WA Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development provided twelve vets to take care of any injured animals brought into the fire control centre. Federal Minister for Emergency Management David Littleproud announced disaster relief payments for people who lost their homes, with Centrelink to provide $1,000 per adult and $400 per child from Thursday 4 February. He also announced that disaster victims could claim the Disaster Recovery Allowance that was available for up to thirteen weeks while Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed parliament concerning the bushfires.
The bushfire has also disrupted rail traffic on this date from Northam, Kalgoorlie, and Merredin, with the AvonLink, Prospector, and MerredinLink services cancelled and replaced with coaches from those towns to Perth and surrounding suburbs. Normal travel was expected to return on 5 or 6 February.
4 February.
500 firefighters had worked through the night defending Avon Ridge Estate and Shady Hills with strong east-south-easterly winds. They had been assisted by fire retardant that was laid late Wednesday by the large fire bombers. The bombers had dropped eleven loads of retardant, in total, the day before. Two firefighting vehicles had been confirmed as lost over the last three days. It was confirmed that properties destroyed in Tilden Park had risen to fifty-six properties when the fire passed through on Tuesday 2 February. Temperatures cooled to with stable winds east to south-easterly in the fire area, but gusts were expected up to in the evening.
It was confirmed that of land was burnt and the perimeter of the fire was . The Shady Hills estate had been protected overnight but south-easterly winds in the afternoon could threaten the estate again. Shady Hills estate, east of Bullsbrook and parts of Gidgegannup were again advised it was too dangerous to leave and if they remained should shelter in place.
By the afternoon the main fire was being tackled by 500 full-time firefighters and volunteers, with the fire bombers laying fire retardant and the fire moving in a north-westerly direction. A new fire began in the afternoon, a few kilometres from Bullsbrook, north of the original fire at the intersection of Wilson and Chittering roads and firefighters and aerial tankers were fighting the fire and was brought under control. It was confirmed by fire authorities that the Wooroloo bushfire had now claimed eighty-one homes.
The WA Premier announced emergency state funding, $4,000 for those who had lost homes and $2,000 for those with damaged homes. Western Power had begun to replace power poles in some areas damaged by the fire. 800 homes remained without power down from 2,000 reported. WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson announced there were no reports of further burglaries or looting. The Australian Red Cross said numbers continued to drop at the evacuation centres as evacuees found other accommodation.
Firefighters were monitoring weather conditions for the weekend as rain was forecasted by the Bureau of Meteorology for Saturday and Sunday and this could bring some relief.
5 February.
The emergency warning area was reduced overnight, with the areas under threat reduced to ten locations and included parts of Avon Valley National Park, Belhus, Brigadoon, Bullsbrook, Ellenbrook, Gidgegannup, The Vines, Upper Swan and Walyunga National Park in the City of Swan. On the western flanks Shady Hills and Walyunga, the Avon Ridge were still been watched for breakouts.
The number of homes lost increased to 86. Firefighters said they had saved 200 homes inside the fire area. No further homes were lost overnight as the 200 firefighters battled the bushfire on its northern front with strong east-south-easterly winds and gusts of up to . The bushfire had burnt up to of land and the perimeter was around . Residents were allowed to return to their properties in areas east of Toodyay Road while others were expected to be allowed on 6 February in other areas. Those west of Toodyay Road and Tilden Park Estate were escorted in buses to view their properties. Assessors started to walk of roads and tracks to access the burnt trees at the roadsides to see what dangers needed to be addressed to allow them to be opened to ordinary traffic. By early evening the fire was still uncontained around the intersections of Clenton Road, O'Brien Road and Ewing Road, Gidgegannup.
Yesterday's separate fire, north of the main Wooroloo bushfire, close to Bullsbrook, had been contained by ten firetrucks and controlled by Thursday evening, and was being treated as a suspicious fire. By Friday, the fire had been declared not suspicious. were burnt in this fire.
Police arson investigators and Western Power continued to search the property at the source of the fire. They focused on the power lines, domestic power lines and service pits. They still do not believe the bushfire was caused by a crime. The house and shed on the property did not burn when the fire started.
Western Power restored power to more homes leaving 480 properties without power. Repairs and restoration of the network were to take weeks to complete. Power poles and other materials were accumulated close to the bushfire site. Construction teams were to begin on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February, with the work expected to take weeks.
6 February.
DFES Commissioner Darren Klemm announced that the firefighters