An extraordinary effort by eight rural bushfire brigades across a season in which major blazes decimated their region have been recognised by their nomination for a WA Fire and Emergency Services award.

The brigades in the citation banded together to fight major fires at West River, the Fitzgerald River National Park and Dunn Rock between November 2025 and February 2026.

The West River incident in December, which came perilously close to reaching the Ravensthorpe townsite, was the blaze which cost farmer and former shire deputy president Mark Mudie his life.

Those named are from the Shire of Ravensthorpe, and include North Ravensthorpe, East Ravensthorpe, West River, Mt Short, Jerdacuttup, Cocanarup, Hopetoun and Munglinup.

In the final three for the volunteer firefighting team achievement award after being put forward by a grateful member of the public, they are up against Denmark VFRS and Nickol Bay BFB with the winners to be announced at a ceremony in Perth on September 5.

Cocanarup brigade captain Gary Webster said he would not be forgetting the 2025-26 bushfire season in a hurry.

“I think it was the worst one ever,” he said.

“You reflect back on that period from November to January and it was spent fighting fires in the area, one with a fatality and one coming within 5km of the town.

“We had to prepare the farm next to us which was bordering on the bushfire; it was like the last stand.

“If we couldn’t control it there and it got onto all that stubble, it would have burned into town.

“We had to do a 42km back-burn to meet the fire first — it was a huge effort.

“We had a window of a couple of days but even then, we were patrolling because we couldn’t afford a jump-over; if we did, we’d be back to square one.

“I think I probably spent four weeks in that time away from my own farm.”

The death of Mr Mudie affected everyone involved in fighting the fires, and in the shire more generally.

“We helped the Mudie family take the rest of their crop. They still had about 6000ha left,” Mr Webster said.

“It was a good way to give something back, but no one really knew how they felt about it all. It was just a way of dealing with the grief.”

He said the local brigades had been backed up by volunteers and professional firefighters from outside the area and that they had all worked as a team.

“There was a bit of knocking of heads at first but overall it was well co-ordinated and the agencies worked well together,” Mr Webster said.

“It came to a point where you needed local knowledge and that pretty much saved the town.”

Just as the brigades thought they could take a breather, members went out to assist at the Dunn Rock fire near Lake Grace.

Nominated for an individual award in 2020 after overcoming an accident in which he lost his left hand, Mr Webster said it was nice to be recognised as part of a team.

“It’s definitely great to be recognised because country people get used to just getting on with things without too much recognition,” he said.

“It would be a great honour to win and it would be well deserved.”

Mal Grant, the Shire of Ravensthorpe’s bushfire risk mitigation co-ordinator and chief bushfire control officer, paid tribute to his volunteer predecessor Rodney Daw.

Mr Daw served for 50 years as chief and laid all the groundwork for the local brigades.

“Even though I’ve been with him as a friend for the last 25 years, it’s his sterling efforts which have prepared the brigades,” Mr Grant said.

“Two crappy bushfire seasons have just landed in my lap.”

Shire of Ravensthorpe president Rachel Gibson thanked the brigades for their service.

“They represent the very best of the Ravensthorpe community,” she said.