Firefighters are battling a separate fire that broke out in Bullsbrook this afternoon.
DFES deputy Commissioner of operations Craig Waters said a separate fire has already burned through 20 to 40ha.
Forty appliances are currently on the scene and it is being brought under the Wooroloo bushfire management team.
Mr Waters said the new fire was about 8km north of Shady Hills Estate and east of the Bullsbrook townsite.
“Hopefully we can bring that under control fairly quickly,” he said.
Mr Waters said the fire was not caused by spotting – it was completely separate. It is unknown how it started.
An assessment of property losses has been completed, he said.
Mr Waters said DFES is “pretty confident” that the number of homes lost – 81 – would be the final figure as “long as nothing else comes under threat.”
It was estimated about 700 people have reported to the three emergency evacuation centres this week, he added.
At least 151 people slept at the centres last night and were provided with food and other support.
Counsellors are also available at the centres as well as Centrelink assistance.
The Department of Communities will help those who have lost their homes to find emergency accommodation.
K-Mart Midland have opened their store to 3pm and 6pm today and 10am and 4pm tomorrow for bushfire victims to collect personal items and toiletries.
Mr Waters said crews worked extremely hard overnight in gusty winds to save Shady Hills Estate, saying firefighters’ main concern today was on the northern flank of the fire in Gidgegannup.
He said firefighters were operating in very difficult terrain and are using hand tools to consolidate containment lines in areas where it is inaccessible for machinery.
“Going forward, we are expected strong east, south easterly winds, pretty much for the next 24 hours,” he said.
“The strong winds will pose firefighters some trouble and some issues overnight, however the consistent wind direction will enable us to hopefully get a handle on not having to deal with out breaks in unexpected areas.
Mr Waters said the fire was “90 per cent tracked” but “we are in no way out of the woods at this stage” given tonight’s “extremely gusty winds” which he expected would be at 70-80km/h.
Western Power said it today given access to the fire ground east of Toodyay Road and they had started scoping the damage that had occurred. “As we expected... it is significant,” Western Power’s Sam Barbaro said.
“Even in that small area we are seeing up to 200 poles have been destroyed and about 50 transformers and other equipment. So we are mobilising crews and equipment at the moment so we are ready to enter the site as soon as we can.”
Mr Barbaro said given the extent of the damage – the restoration process will take “weeks, not days.”
“We’ll do our best and work as hard as we can but it’s going to be a long haul from here,” he said.
He said 800 customers remained without power – down from 2000 at the start of the fire.
Mr Barbaro said with Yarloop it took four weeks before all customers had their power restored.
It comes as 81 homes were confirmed destroyed in the fires.
Windy conditions are hampering firefighting efforts with fixed-wing planes unable to fly today. More than 260 firefighters are on the ground.
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2021-02-04 08:13:00Z
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