Thousands of residents in Perth and the surrounding areas in Australia had to evacuate their homes after a bushfire broke out on Monday, February 1.
At least 80 homes and more than 8,000 hectares of land have been destroyed in the fire and 8,000 homes were left without electricity according to CNN.
The Perth metropolitan area and southwest regions of Western Australia were under a lockdown that is expected to be lifted on Friday night, February 5. But when the fire broke out, authorities told residents to get to safety, even if it meant breaking lockdown.
‘The most important thing is preservation of life and so if you’re quarantining and you’re required to evacuate, you should just evacuate,’ Western Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) Commissioner Darren Klemm said in a media briefing Wednesday. ‘That evacuation overrides any quarantining requirements that people might have.’
‘Today [February 3] we’ve got over 260 firefighters on the fire ground. All of the aircraft are in use currently except for the fixed-wing water bombers due to the wind.’
According to West Australia, the fire was about 90% tracked on February 4, but the DFES’ Craig Waters said they ‘are in no way out of the woods at this stage’, as extremely gusty winds at 70-80km/h are expected for the night.
An air quality warning was issued for the northern suburbs of Perth and road users were urged to turn on headlights or pull over if the visibility is too poor. ‘The smoke is not expected to clear for another several days,’ the warning stated.
No fatalities have been reported. The cause of the fire is unclear.
INSIDE THE FIRE ZONE: These images were taken last night from WA firefighters, who say flames reached 50m high.
Our bushfire coverage begins at 5.00pm on #9News https://t.co/2eBjKTNBoK pic.twitter.com/qAqrHo9zmH
— 9News Perth (@9NewsPerth) February 4, 2021
Perth Hills bushfire at ‘critical’ stage as firefighters struggle to contain massive blaze.Windy conditions continuing to impede the efforts of firefighters battling to contain massive bushfire, now in its third day. How close its to Perth City #Hearties #TeamLucas #POStables 🙏 pic.twitter.com/khl2AlIHnN
— Sandie Edwards (@Sandieed08) February 4, 2021
Up To 30 Homes Destroyed, More Threatened In Perth Hills Bushfire https://t.co/WPx6dMdt5I #perthfires pic.twitter.com/suC2fkcG2U
— 96FM Perth (@96FMPerth) February 2, 2021
Bushfire Update: 56 homes have been lost in the Wooroloo fires. Ripping through more than 7,000 hectares of land in Perth’s north east. #breaking
📷DFES pic.twitter.com/HAuDCwYNfl— Rachael Clifford (@Rach_Clifford) February 2, 2021
Picture: Twitter/Sandie Edwards
