“At the moment we’ve had two ring-tailed possums, a brush-tailed possum and a joey has been handed in to various people and vets”, she said.
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The two bodies were found in burnt-out houses in Yarloop on Saturday, and one person remains missing. “I don’t think there’s any cause for blame on the death of my brother, I think it’s just a sad circumstance”, Bruce Taylor said.
Western Australia state Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Wayne Gregson said on Friday the conditions have been “extremely difficult” and the fire was “uncontrolled” and “very unpredictable”.
He says management, including sector commanders and incident controllers “may have made a mistake but they made the best call on the information that they had at the time and unfortunately some things don’t always go to plan”.
The premier also announced disaster assistance for victims under the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.
DAFWA said it is working closely with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, local industry and shires as part of its emergency response.
Federal MP Andrew Hastie also visited the evacuation centre and said the Prime Minister wanted to convey his sympathy to the victims and admiration for those helping.
Inquiries are ongoing into other people who have not been accounted for, he added.
The fire, which started on Wednesday has so far burnt through more than 70,000 hectares and is moving slowly south.
Around 60 firefighters have flown in from New South Wales to relieve tired local crews, local media reported.
Yarloop has a population of 500-600 with an estimated 250 homes.
“You get fires to a certain stage of intensity, where it makes little difference”, Gregson said.
It continues to threaten the communities of Waroona, Hamel, Cookenup, Yarloop and Harvey, with a bushfire Emergency Warning in place for the region. Dairy farmers near the fire have been forced to dump thousands of liters of milk since Thursday (January 8) as road closures prevent tankers from being able to reach farms and power cuts prevent production.
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“The fire remains uncontained and is not yet controlled”.
