Wedge Island Bushfire: Cervantes’ residents warned it is ‘too late to leave’

Cervantes residents have been warned it is too late to leave as an out-of-control bushfire moves towards the coastal town.

Communities in Cervantes, Cooljarloo, Nambung and Grey are bounded by emergency alerts as firefighters desperately try to control the blaze, which spans 48km.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services escalated its bushfire emergency warning for residents in Cervantes on Thursday as the firefighters conducted backburns near Indian Ocean Drive — blocking the only safe evacuation route towards Jurien Bay.

DFES incident controller Damien Pumphrey told ABC radio on Thursday night that the blaze was burning “one to two kilometres” away from the Cervantes townsite.

Anybody in Cervantes who did not evacuate north to Jurien Bay is urged to not evacuate and instead prepare their property and find a safe place with running water and a clear exit route.

“You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive,” an emergency alert said.

“There is a threat to lives and homes.”

Speaking at a community briefing on Thursday afternoon, Mr Pumphrey said properties in Grey and the Wedge shacks community within the emergency zone were now “undefendable”.

He said residents in the two suburbs had been given “three days of warnings” and that if they remained in the area, they must shelter in place immediately to survive.

Mr Pumphrey said 17 people remained in Grey while 20 were still in Wedge. Some residents were preparing to evacuate by boat, despite being urged to shelter in place.

The bulk of firefighters have since moved to Cervantes to “defend homes” amid “substantial changes in weather,” Mr Pumphrey said.

“Strong easterly winds have pushed the fire to Wedge and Grey”.

Two large air tankers — both from interstate — are in WA and were prepared to assist firefighting efforts over the next two days. One of those airtankers dropped up to 15,000L water around the Cervantes townsite on Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday, Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said there were 200 firefighters on the ground fighting the blaze.

The fire — which has burnt through more than 49,000ha — was sparked by a fatal car crash in Mimegarra on Monday.

DFES Commissioner Darren Klemm said the blaze was about 48km long on Thursday morning, with winds expected to intensify over the next few days.

“We’ve got a pretty extensive fire edge that we’re trying to control, particularly on the western side of the fire,” he told ABC Radio.

“That whole western side of the fire ... is the part that’s really causing us issues at the moment, with these really strong easterly winds that we’ve experienced over the past 12 hours.

“Certainly over the next 24 hours we’re going to see those winds pick up to around 20 to 25 to 30km/h and gusting even stronger ... we’ve got the passage of a trough tomorrow.”

WA Police said multiple people had tried to breach road blocks in the area.

A number of roads have been closed including Indian Ocean Drive between Ocean Place and Middleton Boulevard, Bibby Road, Wongonderrah Road, Meadows Road, Cervantes Road and Munbinea Road south of the Cervantes Road intersection.

“This causes problems for the person going in and their safety, but it also causes problems for the firefighters - who then have another thing to deal with in that scene,” police said.

“We please ask everyone to obey those rules and obey those vehicle control points.”

The Bureau of Meteorology has a forecast top of 37C tomorrow, with morning north-easterly gusts expected to reach up to 40km/h.

Mr Pumphrey said that while Jurien Bay was not impacted by an emergency alert, people were still urged to prepare to evacuate elderly residents if required.

It would take between 18 and 24 hours to mobilse gerneratirs to Cervantes if required, Western Power said at the briefing.

Mr Klemm said “unexploded ordnance(s)” in the area were making the situation complex for crews.

“Monday and Tuesday were a little bit more complex than it would normally be with that UXO issue, which really restricts us to be only able to operate on established tracks to get right to the edge of the fire,” he said.

“We like to get right on the edge of the fire ... to get that middle mineral, and the UXO just restricts us in that regard.”

Nambung Station Stay owner Gloria White told The West Australian that she and her husband evacuated their guests on Tuesday before fleeing to their beachside home in Cervantes on Wednesday.

Ms White said the blaze had reached her property, destroying water pipes, fences and cattle.

“The fire was sweeping through the country ... the wind was so strong so there wasn’t much the firefighters could do but protect the buildings,” she said.

“We’re just so glad that nobody’s been hurt, there’s no loss of life at this stage.”

She said she could see a thick cloud of smoke but said she felt “fine”.

“We’re right next to the beach and our evacuation plan, should we need it, is to take everything we need and go out on the beach because there’s no bushland nearby,” she said.

“Our town has got a lot of elderly ladies living here and I think they’re a little concerned.

“Some people have evacuated to Jurien Bay, others are sitting tight hoping we’ll be OK.

“Hopefully the fires move through and and it won’t turn turn back on it at all.”

An evacuation centre has been set up at Jurien Bay Sports and Recreation Centre.

Dandaragan Shire president Tony O’Gorman said a large portion of Cervantes’ elderly population had evacuated to the Jurien Bay Sports and Recreation Centre.

“It’s stressful because Cervantes is a town that has a large elderly population,” he said.

“We’ve had a significant number (of elderly residents) come up and we’ve had some people billet out their houses so people have a proper bed and proper bedroom.

So far, we’ve managed to accommodate everybody and we have had a number of caravans that have come up from Cervantes as well.

Mr O’Gorman said he was pleased to see people co-operating but said they were “not out of the woods yet”.

“The next couple of days are going to be high fire danger and big winds,” he said.

“But DFES and the DBCA and the Shire have thrown everything at it ... and the coordination has been fantastic.

“We’ve got St John’s out on the fire ground in case of incidents out there, we’ve got Community Health on standby here in Jurien Bay, we’ve got Water Corp that have brought in generators to back up the waste transfer.

“The emergency services have just thrown everything at it and are doing the best possible job.”

Earlier on Thursday, Cervantes General Store manager Peter Ivey said he feared winds could push the blaze towards the town.

“The fire is burning to the south of east of town and winds are expected to come from the east and push it across towards the town during the day,” he told The West.

“Firefighters are building containment lines and burning off between the town and the current fire, trying to hold it out.”

Mr Ivey said he could see a a haze of smoke but “didn’t feel panicked at all”.

“We always have a bushfire emergency plan to enact, and that’s basically to move and stay in a safe space where there’s no fuel road ... and wait it out,” he said.

“There’s a few people who don’t have an understanding of bushfires who are quite panicked, but those who have been through it before are fairly calm.”

Resident Shane Vanzetti posted on Facebook that Thursday was “D-Day” for Cervantes. “In the last two days my boys have been there getting our house ready for the fire front,” he posted.

“As most would know our house is close to bush on the south. The boys left last night while they could before all access was closed and now it’s up the professional fire fighters who arrived in town yesterday to defend the township.

“The very best of luck to the volunteers and career fighters and stay safe.”

Mr Klemm asked residents to “follow the warnings”.

“It’s really important that the community out are following the warnings, making sure the bush fire plan has been put to action,” he said.

“Some people have chosen to leave from Cervantes, which is their decision to make, and some people have chosen to stay and defend.

“There are significant crews in Cervantes (and they) have been there for at least the last 24 hours, making sure we can provide some protection through a whole range of ways.”

A volunteer firefighter, who suffered serious burns while battling the blaze on Wednesday, remains in a stable condition.

St John WA was called to the northern suburb of Cataby to treat a male firefighter who had been on the ground around Wedge Island, Cooljarloo and Nambung just before 12pm.

The firefighter, aged in his 60s, was taken by ambulance to Gingin Oval.

He was admitted to Fiona Stanley Hospital’s burn unit after being airlifted from Gingin by the RAC Rescue helicopter.

On Thursday, a FSH spokesperson confirmed the firefighter was in a stable condition.

Mr Klemm said he believed the man was expected to be discharged later today and was expected to make a full recovery.

A second firefighter is also believed to have been burnt but did require an ambulance because his injuries were minor.