Residents of Upper Swan in Perth’s north-east were told to evacuate on Monday morning as an out-of-control bushfire. threatened lives and homes.
The emergency warning applied to those in Copley and St Albans roads and surrounding areas. Authorities said the threat to homes had been alleviated on Monday morning, but warned of further danger in the afternoon as conditions changed.
“There certainly were properties under threat overnight in Copely Road but firefighters worked hard overnight to reduce the threat to those properties,” a spokesman for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said.
Conditions were expected to get worse in the afternoon, with a high alert issued for the Avon Ridge estate.
“The conditions this afternoon are very unfavourable and we’re particularly asking residents in the Avon Ridge estate to be on high alert today as we expect a westerly change throughout midday and that will strengthen through to the afternoon,” the department’s incident controller, Peter Sutton, said.
#WA Bushfire EMERGENCY WARNING for southern, eastern parts of Upper Swan in City of Swan. Map update at 6:27am AWST https://t.co/XFG8zvIReK pic.twitter.com/nBbrQdc0OZ
— ABC Emergency (@ABCemergency) January 8, 2017
The department told residents it was too dangerous to return home if they were out and they should leave immediately if the way was clear, or make final preparations if they planned to stay to defend their homes. Residents were told it was safe to leave to the west, towards the Great Northern Highway. The highway was temporarily closed, but reopened later on Monday morning.
Roadblock at Great Northen Hwy/West Swan Rd, emergency bushfire warning remains #perthnews pic.twitter.com/qQCVlDPqME
— Lisa Barnes (@Barnsy_Lisa) January 8, 2017
The fire, which began at the far eastern end of Copley Road, broke containment lines about 2am local time and moved into a “very inaccessible area up on rocky slopes heading towards Walyunga national park,” the department spokesman said.
A relocation centre was set up at Altone Park leisure centre in Beechboro for residents who had to evacuate.
Fire in Upper Swan came very close to this home, residents packed the pets up ready to flee @abcnewsPerth pic.twitter.com/CrRpsChJ3Y
— Courtney Bembridge (@courtbembridge) January 9, 2017
Early on Monday morning the bushfire was moving fast in a westerly direction with flames up to six metres high, and spot fires were flaring up to 150 metres ahead, firefighters said.
At least 120 firefighters were on the scene before daylight.
Temperatures of 35C and light winds are predicted for Perth until Thursday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, making the job of tackling the blaze more difficult.
For updates on fire warnings and advice visit emergency.wa.gov.au
