Residents in the Geraldton suburb of Strathalbyn had a scare on Tuesday morning when a bushfire came close to their homes while the local school was forced to evacuate and close for the day.
A bushfire emergency warning was briefly issued for the area bounded by Honeysuckle Boulevard, Sunnybanks Drive, Cedar Crescent, Verticordia Drive and Tersonia Way.
However, just after 8.30am, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services issued a downgraded advice alert and warned that anyone in that area should monitor conditions and stay alert. However, the threat to lives and homes was no more as the fire had been contained.
Just after 10am another update confirmed that the fire had been extinguished and firefighters had left the scene.
Strathalbyn resident Brian Lumley was alerted to the fire by his neighbour.
“You could see a bit of flame, not big flames, but it was a small amount of flame,” he said.
Mr Lumley continued walking his dogs when his daughter received an evacuation message on her phone. He and his family decided to stay and watch the fire.
Mr Lumley and his neighbours congregated on the footpath outside their homes to watch the fire be contained. “The fireys have been here and doing a good job so far,” he said.
He believed the fire could have been related to a Western Power pole in the middle of a paddock.
“Western Power is looking at a pole right in the middle of the paddock, and there is a power outage in different areas around here. We’ve got power, but some other areas behind us haven’t got power,” Mr Lumley said.
Geraldton Christian College principal Peter Handsworth said the school would remain closed for the rest of Tuesday.
“On the advice of the fire department, we evacuated earlier this morning. We quickly put our plans in place to secure students on site and have them safely picked up or taken to a safe location for collection,” he said.
“We are very grateful for the understanding response from parents as the police and firefighters worked well to keep us informed and everyone safe.
“The fire is now under control. The school remains closed today, and we look forward to seeing everyone again tomorrow morning, hopefully for a less eventful start.”
The bushfire was reported at 7am and there were 20 firefighters on the scene battling the blaze at the peak.
At the time of print, the cause of the fire was unknown, according to DFES.
A Western Power spokesperson said: “Around 1084 customers in Strathalbyn and surrounds lost power around 7am due to damaged infrastructure as a result of a fire impacting the area.
“Western Power crews attended site under the direction of DFES to locate and assess the damage which included a low-lying power line.
“Our network operations team were able to isolate the damage and backfeed power to all but 19 customers by 9am. Crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to repair the damage and restore power to the remaining 19 customers.”
Power to all properties was due to be restored by noon on Tuesday.
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