Residents in the bushfire-ravaged town of Yarloop in Western Australia’s South West, where 128 homes were lost and two people died, claim they were not told about the imminent danger until it was too late.
Advertisement
Yarloop residents say authorities ignored fears about lack of water: Yarloop residents are angry authorities ignored their fears about a lack of water pressure in the town a year ago after a resident told media there was no water for firefighters to use to try and fight the blaze which destroyed the town on Friday. “I was his first emergency contact, I was on that list where he presses the buzzer … but there was so much going on I didn’t even think about him”.
Nearly 100 houses and municipal buildings have been burned to the ground in Yarloop, south of Perth.
“As with most bushfires, water supply schemes are impacted by loss of power and Water Corporation has not been able to access water infrastructure in areas that are deemed unsafe by DFES”, he said.
“The fire continues to be uncontained and out of control”.
Waroona was last put on emergency footing due to a fire in January 2015.
The President of the Yarloop Bowling Club spoke on Friday of the utter devastation caused by the fire, which all but destroyed the tiny town in the space of seven minutes.
Hot and strong wind gusts have fanned the wildfire, or bushfire as its commonly known in Australia, after it was started from a lightning strike on Tuesday morning, razing over 58,000 hectares of land to create a fire perimeter of over 200 kilometers.
“The fire was horrendous”, he said.
After allegations homes were being looted in Waroona and Yarloop, the Western Australia Police said they had officers patrolling the streets to make sure properties were kept safe.
SOME Yarloop residents have ruled out a future return to their fire-ravaged town in Western Australia’s southwest.
Historic buildings, workshops, factories, a fire station and part of a school have also been destroyed, according to Fire and Emergency Services Commission (DFES) Wayne Gregson.
Advertisement
Yarloop, on Western Australia’s coast – population 545 and 160 miles south of the city of Perth – was evacuated and devastated by the brushfire.
