Massive bushfire kills 2, razes homes in Australia
Print Edition
Two people have died and more than a hundred homes have been destroyed in a huge bushfire, Australian authorities said yesterday, as firefighters battled to tame the out-of-control blaze.
The inferno — which has razed about 71,000 hectares in Western Australia state — is the most recent in a series of bushfires that have kicked off a hot summer season, with the latest deaths lifting the national toll to eight.
The two bodies were found in burnt-out houses in Yarloop, a historic mill town some 110 kilometers south of Perth that has been devastated by the bushfire — one of the worst to hit the region in recent years.
The bodies are believed to be those of two missing men aged 73 and 77, Western Australia Police said.
“It’s just another day of catastrophe, isn’t it?” Tania Jackson, the head of the regional council, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp after news of the men’s deaths. “Each day that has gone by seems to bring worse news. It’s devastating.”
The bushfire — which is entering its 5th day after reportedly being started by a lightning strike — has destroyed 143 properties, including 128 homes in Yarloop, according to the state’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
Some 250 firefighters are fighting the blaze, which has a perimeter of about 226km, and authorities said yesterday afternoon that it was “contained” within the fire zone, but not yet under control, amid cooler weather yesterday.
“Overnight and today, favorable conditions came in and it’s a lot cooler here today and that has allowed firefighters to gain more ground on the fire and to increase containment lines,” a DFES spokeswoman said.
DFES said several towns in the region remained under threat.
Western Australia’s state premier Colin Barnett said the event had been declared a natural disaster, a measure that gives residents access to greater financial support, adding that the “damage bill is going to be very significant.”
Bushfires are common in Australia’s hotter months, with four deaths in Western Australia in November. Another two people perished in neighboring South Australia state in the same month.
DFES commissioner Wayne Gregson warned that the worst of the bushfire season was yet to come.
“There is still another 10 or more weeks to go in what is predicted to be a difficult bushfire season,” Gregson told Perth’s Sunday Times newspaper.
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