Firefighters welcome cooler change

A series of emergency level bushfires that had Western Australian firefighters on edge over the weekend have been downgraded, but the threat of flare-ups is keeping them on their toes.

Firefighters in Perth’s southern suburbs, and the Peel Region just south of Perth, were kept busy over Saturday and Sunday after a fire broke out and threatened homes in suburban Piara Waters.

While another blaze in the Serpentine National Park, which was also at an emergency level, was finally downgraded to a watch and act on Sunday night.

Temperatures over Friday and Saturday peaked in the high-30Cs, but a cooler change from Sunday brought some relief to firefighters on the ground.

By Monday afternoon, the Serpentine Jarrahdale fire was downgraded further to an advice level, after burning through more than 2800ha of bushland.

However, the focus has shifted to the state’s southern coast, where an emergency fire was declared in the Shire of Ravensthorpe, near Esperance, on Monday.

The blaze broke out in the Jerdacuttup Lakes Nature Reserve, and is fast-moving and out-of-control.

At one point over the weekend, there were more than 100 fires burning across WA’s south.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) Commissioner Darren Klemm on Sunday said most, if not all of the fires had been caused by lightning.

“A very significant band of lightning progressed across the southern half of the state on Friday night,” Commissioner Klemm said.

“High temperatures and really strong winds caused, at one point … over 100 bushfires (to be) burning in the southern half of the state.

“We’ve got a good four to five days now of more stable, milder weather conditions, which is going to give us a great opportunity.”