Fire crews who battled an out-of-control blaze bearing down on Denmark through the night are now bracing for the situation to escalate even further.
Fire crews who battled an out-of-control blaze bearing down on Denmark through the night are now bracing for the situation to escalate even further, with the extremely hot weather conditions, strong winds and challenging terrain proving no match for the 150 firefighters on the ground.
“We’ve had a breakout on the northeast corner of the fire which is under some significant weather pressure at the moment,” DFES Assistant Commissioner Rick Curtis said on 6PR on Saturday afternoon.
“There’s a bit going in. The weather is quite significant in terms of fire weather.
“(And) the incident … is continuing to escalate, air resources, ground crews are working really hard to contain that.”
It comes as some residents living close to town received text messages telling them to leave their homes now, while others had authorities door-knocking their properties with the same message.
As fears grow that at least two homes may have been lost in the blaze so far, Mr Curtis reiterated that properties in the area were at risk, “in the sense that if the fire continues to escalate towards Denmark under a westerly influence then properties will potentially be impacted”.
It came as Denmark Shire president Ceinwen Gearon told a community meeting at 2pm that there had yet to be any confirmation of homes lost, with rapid damage assessment crews yet to have been able to go in and do a formal risk and damage assessment.
She said while overnight “we were very lucky”, with the situation failing to escalate as expected, “it is highly likely that this situation will escalate” today.
“I think that seriously anyone in the townsite of Denmark should consider having a bag packed and ready to go with those essential things that you want to take with you,” she said.
So far 2500ha have been scorched.
Supporting the 150 firefighters on the ground are 16 aircraft including two large air tankers.
Further help is expected to arrive from Perth over the weekend.
Dozens have already been evacuated, with several who left their homes on Friday night having since been re-housed.
And more still are now being urged to get ready to leave, as winds push the fire front towards town.
Northeast of the emergency area, however, is also facing a threat now, with a bushfire watch and act in place for people bounded by Barnes Road to Break Road to the west, Break Road to Nutcracker Road to the north, Denmark Mount Barker Road to the east, following Wilson Inlet down south to the coast including the townsite of Denmark.
Department of Fire and Emergency Services incident control officer Craig Garrett said while “a lot of great work” had been done overnight to try to contain the fire on its north, east and south flanks, escalating fire weather was currently being caused by a south-westerly wind pushing the fire in a north-easterly direction towards the Denmark town, Mr Garrett said.
The winds are expected to continue into the night.
“At the moment we have got south-westerly winds, so it is pushing the fire against its eastern side and the northern side. The south-westerly is starting to pick up,” he said. “But at this stage the pressure is right on this eastern side.
“We have had some breakouts this morning on the north eastern side and that is where the crews and the aircraft are at the moment really trying to get on top of that so they don’t have an extended breakout from the fire.
“There is a hell of a lot of work to be done to keep this fire in the box. It is not contained or controlled at the moment.
“Because we have these unburnt pockets against the edge that need to be dealt with and trapped, and they are still in the process of trying to do that, then the fire has every chance of escaping the fire line.”
Mr Garrett said crews were “putting all of our efforts into keeping the fire within those containment lines” but if “the fire gets out and runs” there is “a lot of risk” of the fire moving towards the town.
“You don’t see these conditions very often,” he said.
Western Power has advised about 400 homes and businesses in Denmark remain without power after power was returned to about 1300 premises in the Walpole area by Saturday afternoon.
There is no timeline for when power will be restored in the Denmark area, as crews must wait until it is safe to access and assess the damage to power poles within the fire ground.
Evacuation centres are open at the Walpole Sport and Recreation Centre and Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre.
Road closures remain at McLeod Road between Osborne Road and South Coast Highway, Point Hiller Vista and South Coast Highway between Parker Road and Sunrise Road.
Denmark police-officer-in-charge Matt Hartfield urged the community to respect police officers and volunteers manning the road closures.
“Be kind to the people out there trying to look after our community,” he said.
A bushfire advice is in place for north of Scotsdale Road in parts of Scotsdale, Mount Romance and Kordabup.
A bushfire advice is also in place for people in parts of Ocean Beach, Shadforth and Denmark including the Peninsula, Ocean Beach Caravan Park and recreation zone.
The fire started about 9.25am on Friday near the intersection of Bayview Rise and McLeod Road in Shadforth.
Originally published as Denmark bushfire expected to ‘escalate’ as hot weather conditions prove challenging
Keyword: Denmark bushfire expected to ‘escalate’ as hot weather conditions prove challenging