Old bombs, caves and sink holes. Those are the obstacles fire crews navigated to bring a blaze under control that burnt for twelve days at the Cape Range National Park, near Exmouth.
But as the calm returns to Exmouth's peninsular, some exciting discoveries are being made amongst the blackened terrain.
Before the February fire, Cape Range National Park in WA's Gascoyne region had not been burnt in more than two decades.
But a recent blaze, sparked by lightning, burnt 7,000 hectares over 12 days and came within 10 kilometres of the popular tourist town of Exmouth.
It has been 23 years since the Cape Range National Park has been burnt and cave experts say amongst this now barren landscape is the opportunity for new discoveries.
"Cave entrances are generally hidden by the spinifex and shrubbery around," Exmouth-based speleologist Darren Brooks said.
Despite being internationally renowned for its ecological significance, Mr Brooks said there has been very little research about the impact of fire on the Cape Range National Park's cave system, which is home to a series of threatened and rare species.
"It's super exciting. I can see areas I've never seen before," he said.
"I did spot a few small holes.
"But just because it's a small hole at the top doesn't mean it can't lead to a big cave underneath."
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions incident controller Deon Utber said they were also assessing the risks for visitors entering burnt areas of the park.
"The fire has occurred over an area that has a vast cave system in it, plus an area of unexploded ordnance," he said.
"We're assessing some of the visitor risks from the exposure of sinkholes into those cave systems that were previously not revealed," he said.
"Some of those are quite close to the walk trail."
Fire crews met by 'wall of flame'
DBCA wildlife officer Elise Launer was part of the fire crew that fought the blaze and described its intensity.
"One side of the canyon was burning, and the other side is super steep, really thick spinifex."
The fire started on February 14, near the Charles Knife Canyon, before jumping the road and heading towards Shothole Canyon, where fire crews had one last chance to control the blaze before it crossed inaccessible ranges towards Exmouth town.
Over 100 DBCA firefighters and over 30 volunteer firefighters worked around the clock to contain it.
"We had crews at four o'clock in the morning putting rake hoe lines in, back burning lines in, trying to stop it from jumping over Shothole Canyon Road because, basically from Shothole Canyon Road, the closest break is Exmouth township which was making everyone nervous," Ms Laudner said.
Fire crews also scrambled to protect the region's mobile phone towers and Bureau of Meteorology radar, which were in the fire's path.
DBCA Incident controller Deon Utber said the landscape left little room for error.
While Cape Range National Park has been re-opened, the two roads leading into the fire ground — Charles Knife and Shothole Canyon Road —remain closed to the public.
"[There needs to be] rehabilitation of some of the road infrastructure that was damaged," Mr Utber said.
The DBCA urges visitors to the region to remain fire safe.
"It is incredibly dry up here. We need to be cognisant of any ignition sources because the vegetation up here is highly combustible … so we just need to be really careful because one ignition source can lead to a large-scale fire that requires a huge effort to contain," Mr Utber said.
