Port Denison bushfire threat downgraded as flames controlled by DFES and volunteers, with no homes lost

Firefighters saved homes from a raging bushfire in Port Denison over the weekend, which has now been contained and controlled. The emergency started on Friday afternoon and was downgraded to the lowest advice alert on Sunday. Locals are still being asked to monitor conditions. Currently there is no threat to lives and homes, bringing a sigh of relief to Port Denison and Dongara locals as well as emergency response crews who worked to contain the fire. No properties or homes were reported as damaged, despite the flames burning right to the boundary of several properties and right to the back of the Dongara golf course. So far, 852ha have been razed. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services was notified of the emergency at 3.15pm on Friday when the fire erupted in the vicinity of Teatree Grove and Springfield Grove. Residents from Port Denison, Dongara and Yardarino were instructed to evacuate the vicinity immediately to the evacuation centre established at Irwin Recreation Centre. Brent Allen, DFES incident controller, said the fire was labelled a high-level emergency as soon as the department was alerted. “It escalated very rapidly mostly due to the fuel type. The fire was burning coastal health which immediately created a lot of heat and a lot of smoke as soon as it started,” he said. “We mobilised crews and support straight away to support the local government response with an initial crew of 25 fighters, which was quickly upgraded to 70 to 80 firefighters and waterbombing aircraft.” Support crews from Geraldton, Kalbarri and Jurien Bay also rushed to the scene to help control the flames and protect houses and properties from being lost. Support crews from Perth arrived on Monday to help in the post-emergency work and give tired locals a well-deserved rest. Mr Allen said DFES believed the fire to have been started by an electrical fault near Teatree Grove, which was escalated by the fuel type and north-easterly wind, fanning the fire in a south-westerly direction. He said the protection of all properties in the emergency zone could be attributed to the tireless work of the emergency response crew on the ground and in the air. “We’ve probably got three or four more days of work here. We really need to mop up and make this fire safe, so we will have DFES crews here for multiple days,” he said. “We are also moving into the recovery phase. It is a bit of a transition, and we need to do a damage and impact assessment, as well as begin looking at rehabilitation by assessing the erosion and run-off impacts by the breaks and tracks made.” Mr Allen said now the fire had been downgraded in risk, controlled, and contained, DFES could start actively looking at how to transition back to a “normal state of operations” for the town. However, DFES said the community still needed to stay away from the area for the time being. “It’s still unsafe with lots of hotspots and we have got crew actively working on that fireground, so please observe and obey all road closures,” Mr Allen said. “I must give a huge thank you to everyone who’s been involved, it’s been a huge, combined effort between emergency services and volunteers.”