Dunsborough ‘dodges a bullet’ with marri reserve bushfire which affected 2000 residents and businesses

The town of Dunsborough had a near miss at the weekend as a bushfire raged through the marri reserve with businesses suffering financially and about 2000 residents affected. The fire, which started at 12.45pm on Sunday, burnt through about 40ha of bush to the west of Cape Naturaliste Terrace, but no homes or lives were lost. About 120 volunteer and career firefighters from Dunsborough, Augusta-Margaret River and Bunbury worked to contain the fire by Sunday evening, helped by up to four water bombers and two helicopters. Now in the aftermath, Dunsborough-Yallingup Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Jen McNab said the fire had a sizeable economic impact. “We’re at the tail end of peak season and it was on a Sunday afternoon, so quite a lot of businesses either chose to close or were forced to close,” she said. “Some people had to close because their staff members’ houses were in danger, so they didn’t have staff to run (their shops). Other people had to evacuate.” Ms McNab said she received about seven emails and 10 phone calls from business owners impacted by the blaze. “Some losses ranged between $500 to easily $5000,” she said. “Particularly if you’re a big ticket item shop that all it takes is one or two customers a day, and if you’ve lost that access then it makes a big difference to your profit.” However, Ms McNab said she was relieved the fire didn’t have a bigger impact. “It could have been terrible,” she said. “The biggest question is, how do we all get out? If that (fire) had jumped into the lakes or jumped over into that heavy density housing area, we’ve only got a single lane highway to get to Busselton.” Ms McNab drove into Dunsborough about 1.30pm on Sunday to make sure her dogs and home were safe, and said the road was already full of cars trying to leave. “We were very, very lucky and I’m so grateful that we had such amazing community and volunteer support with the fire brigade and the police and DFES and everybody that came in and supported Dunsborough was amazing.” Dunsborough resident Richard Wain was gardening at his Robertson Drive home on Sunday when his wife noticed smoke coming from over the property wall. Mr Wain rushed to the front of the home and saw the fire had already made its way a quarter of the way up the paddock directly opposite their house. He instantly dialled triple-0. “The first thing I thought was the wind was going to blow it straight into that thick bush with all the big trees — knowing that it is really thick and dense, I knew it was going to be a problem,” Mr Wain said. While waiting for the firefighters — who arrived within 15 minutes — Mr Wain worked with residents to create a firebreak in the paddock. “When it first started a group of very helpful local guys all came here and they broke branches off the peppies (trees) and we were putting the flames out the best we could, because we didn’t want the fire to spread, especially across the paddock towards their houses,” he said. “Being in the garden, I had spades and rakes and everything, so I took a whole heap over there and we made a mini firebreak. “Then the fireys got here and they started fighting it — and I can tell you, without them, without the fire bombers, the helicopters and the planes, that fire would have been a disaster for town.” Mr Wain decided it was safer to stay at his property rather than drive through the fire-affected areas to the evacuation zone, and he had previous experience fighting natural disasters with cyclone Vance in Exmouth in 1998-99 and a Yallingup bushfire in 2001. He said he was struck by the skill and bravery of the firefighters and praised them for their efforts. “I think the town dodged a bullet, you know,” he said. “I can’t speak highly enough of the fireys and the pilots and the really co-ordinated effort. That was superb.” Department of Fire and Emergency Services Capes district officer Peter Thomas said a fire investigator was working with the arson squad and Busselton detectives to find out the cause of the fire. “That’s just a co-operative approach that we take, it doesn’t mean that it was deliberately lit,” he said. “We’re looking at all avenues of how this fire could have started, and we do encourage anyone who has any information to contact WA Police.” Mr Thomas praised the community for its response to the crisis, but emphasised how frustrated he was a drone was spotted flying over the area on Sunday. “When a drone goes up, which is what we experienced, it grounds all our aircraft,” he said. “That means there was no aircraft overhead to help slow the rate of spread, protect homes and also, very importantly, protect our crews. “Luckily, the majority of the fire spread had been halted by that point, but if that happened during the peak of it, it could have been a different story.” Within an hour of the emergency being declared, an evacuation centre was set up at the Naturaliste Community and Cultural Centre by the Department of Communities and City of Busselton. With many road closures, a number of residents in the surrounding suburbs were unable to get back to their homes until late Sunday evening.