- A fire official said “unstable winds” are a factor in the fire.
- The steep terrain is also an issue.
- More than 70 houses were burned.
Winds and steep terrain are creating dangerous conditions for teams fighting a forest fire east of Perth, Australia.
“The fire has not yet been contained and controlled,” Craig Waters, deputy commissioner of operations for the Western Australia Department of Fire and Emergency Services, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “It is still a work in progress at this point.”
The fire is burning near the community of Wooroloo, about 30 miles outside of Perth, off the west coast of Australia. Waters said at least 71 houses were destroyed and more than 37 square miles of scorched earth.
Waters said there were no reports of deaths or missing people, but some firefighters suffered minor burns.
He said conditions remain extremely dangerous for firefighters, with the wind changing direction and presenting great challenges.
“It is very steep terrain – we have many valleys, many hills,” said Waters. “We are experiencing really unstable winds.”
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The region around Perth may see some relief from drought conditions with the remnants of a tropical cyclone moving later this week, but this could also lead to more dangerous winds.
“Wind changes can provide relief for some areas under threat, but they can also put others at risk, affecting firefighting efforts In different ways“, said the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, in a forecast update.
Smoke alerts have been issued for some areas around Perth. Drivers were told that visibility can be low, and those with breathing problems made worse by smoke were told to contact their doctor.
Residents in some areas have been warned that “it is too late to leave and now leaving would be deadly”, and they have also warned people concerned about COVID-19 restrictions to make fire protection a higher priority.
Authorities said they understood that residents were eager to return and assess the damage, but could not guarantee when it would happen.
“The forest fire remains in a very unstable condition,” Deputy Incident Controller Greg Mair of Parks and Wildlife Service, Western Australia, told a news conference. “Our focus remains on human life, ensuring that people remain safe in this changing situation.”
The fire occurs during the Australian fire season, where it is now summer and conditions are typically hot and dry. The 2019-20 season fires burned more than 65,000 square miles of land, destroyed about 3,000 homes and killed at least 33 people.
These fires, mainly in the eastern part of the country, occurred amid some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in Australia.
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