WA fires: Authorities warned about Yarloop's lack of water in 2015

Date
    January 8, 2016
    WA Today.

Yarloop residents are angry authorities ignored their fears about a lack of water pressure in the town last year after a resident told media there was no water for firefighters to use to try and fight the blaze which destroyed the town on Friday.


At least 95 houses have been destroyed by fire in Yarloop.

Yarloop Bowling Club president Ron Sackville said he wrote to Water Minister Mia Davies last year concerned a number of fire hydrants weren't working in the town, 120 kilometres south of Perth.

He said a couple of them were fixed, but when firefighters tried to get water from the hydrants to fight the fire, a number of them were on the fritz.   :(

"Something has failed, because some of them didn't work," he said.


A bushfire has completed devastated the South West town of Yarloop.

"And there was no water in the town by five o'clock. It had completely disappeared. I'm really, really angry."

Three residents are still unaccounted for in the South West town and 95 homes and a number of historic buildings including the Yarloop Workshops have been destroyed in the massive blaze that was still raging on Friday morning.

Mr Sackville said he could only count nine buildings still standing in Yarloop.


Yarloop residents are angry after firefighters were unable to draw water from some hydrants in the town.

"It's just terrible," he said.

"I couldn't get all the way down there but understand the steam museum is gone ... the post office survived, the pub is gone, the bowling club survived.

"Fortunately I have a firefighting pump and house and managed to save our house and the horses that were in the paddock - they are in the backyard now.


Close to 100 homes have been destroyed in Yarloop as out-of-control bushfires continue to threaten towns in the South West.



"But I look around 360 degrees and everything is burnt to a cinder. I think the post office is the only building left standing [in the main street]. The fire was horrendous."

The volunteer firefighter told Radio 6PR on Friday morning the Water Minister should resign over the "water situation in Yarloop".   >:(

"There was no water here to fight the fire, the trucks couldn't fill up," he said. "It's just the devastation of a whole town.

"The fire was horrendous. There has been a real lack of land maintenance around Yarloop by some of the private owners - once the fire got into that at the northern end of town, there was no stopping it."

Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Wayne Gregson told gathered media on Friday he had heard Yarloop residents were angry there was a serious lack of water in the town to battle the blaze.

"We will look at that," he said.

"The resupply of trucks from both the fuel and water perspective is usually done independently of town water supply but I did hear his comments in respect to town water supply.

"As I said at the beginning do not rely on scheme water...do not rely on power as been guaranteed. They are likely to fail when you have such a situation. It generally does not impact upon fire response operations because our logistics mean we are independently supplied.

"But I did hear those concerns."

Water Corporation acting CEO Mark Leathersich said he understood it was a stressful time for the Yarloop community and communities affected.

Our thoughts go out to those impacted," he said.

"Water Corporation has been working closely with emergency management agencies responding to the bushfire.

"In the event of bushfires, water supplies can be impacted by power outages and damage to infrastructure, as a direct result of the fire. For this reason Water Corporation cannot guarantee water supplies in the event of fire. Unfortunately this has been the case in Yarloop.

"Power to Yarloop was lost at 7.26am yesterday morning [January 7], which meant water was unable to be transferred to the town's tank.

"Generators and water tankers have been mobilised and are on standby to supply the town tank when Water Corporation is given permission to enter the area safely. Water Corporation personnel are not able to enter the town until DFES determines it is safe.

" Water Corporation works closely with DFES in the event of a bushfire so that firefighters have the best access to available water supplies.

"Water Corporation is making assistance packages available to customers impacted by the bushfires. This includes the provision of a water allowance and waivers for fees relating to connection/water meter infrastructure."

Customers are encouraged to contact Water Corporation on 13 13 85 if they have any queries or are seeking information on assistance packages."

this is tragic.... of course we are never prepared for anything like this are we??>..

its a shame we are not allowed to build dams these days without going through years of reporting and fact finding... all that rain goes to waste time and time again....then bang 95 homes get wiped out....and suddenly they discover not enough water to fight the fire.......well well well.....yes well.... thats the state of the whole country...when the drought hits.. you will hear the same cry... we havent got enough water... ::)

Yarloop was a lovely little town, but it was surrounded by bush  just about anyone could see it would be hard to save from a fire.

A few water trucks would probably not have made a lot of difference.

I guess there will be an inquiry and it will probably conclude like every other enquiry homes need to be more prepared.

miketrees wrote on Jan 9^th, 2016 at 8:19am:

Yarloop was a lovely little town, but it was surrounded by bush  just about anyone could see it would be hard to save from a fire. A few water trucks would probably not have made a lot of difference. I guess there will be an inquiry and it will probably conclude like every other enquiry homes need to be more prepared.

Or perhaps people shouldn't build in areas where high fire risk exists, especially those areas in which it would be very difficult to combat a fire.

From being poisoned by Alcoa Wagerup for the last 20 years now this ,  the people of Yarloop we're thinking of you.

Oh,, come on SOW there were trees planted between the road and the refineries.

It was all good and green.

Please forgive my naivety, I remember when they planted all those paddocks to hide the factory/smelter whatever.

I thought, surely that is not going to fool anyone.

Well it fooled enough.

miketrees wrote on Jan 9^th, 2016 at 8:19am:

Yarloop was a lovely little town, but it was surrounded by bush  just about anyone could see it would be hard to save from a fire. A few water trucks would probably not have made a lot of difference. I guess there will be an inquiry and it will probably conclude like every other enquiry homes need to be more prepared.

the BUSH would be the worst of the worst.....it would be like a fireworks display... who are we kidding...it takes more than water trucks to tame it....

people do what they do... and whine afterwards... same old same old..wouldnt we all like to live in these exotic places.....

can you say its a surprise it has taken so long to happen???????...

we build homes that are earthquakproof   well to some extent..

have we come up with a fireproof home yet???...

or is that something we shouldnt give any thought too????>...

asbestos as we all know was a marvelous thing when it came to fire...

why has this not been made safe to use when it comes to fireproofing a home....like in bricks...if it is made solid it wouldnt have the danger would it??>...we can build bombs???

I am just asking.

Armchair_Politician wrote on Jan 9^th, 2016 at 9:01am:

miketrees wrote on Jan 9th, 2016 at 8:19am: Yarloop was a lovely little town, but it was surrounded by bush  just about anyone could see it would be hard to save from a fire. A few water trucks would probably not have made a lot of difference. I guess there will be an inquiry and it will probably conclude like every other enquiry homes need to be more prepared. Or perhaps people shouldn't build in areas where high fire risk exists, especially those areas in which it would be very difficult to combat a fire.

so you think everyone should live either in the dessert or in the cities ...

wait, scrap cities, skyscrapers are fire traps ... maybe we should all live on the beaches in sandcastles?

You can live in the bush in a tinder box if you want, just dont expect anyone to risk their life saving it, or insurance companies to insure it.

Houses can be made safe in fire prone areas, people choose not to.

miketrees wrote on Jan 9^th, 2016 at 10:36am:

You can live in the bush in a tinder box if you want, just dont expect anyone to risk their life saving it, or insurance companies to insure it. Houses can be made safe in fire prone areas, people choose not to.

that I agree with ... I just don't agree with the 'shouldn't live in the bush'  bullsh1t ... Todays one horse towns in the bush are next centuries megacities.

miketrees wrote on Jan 9^th, 2016 at 10:36am:

You can live in the bush in a tinder box if you want, just dont expect anyone to risk their life saving it, or insurance companies to insure it. Houses can be made safe in fire prone areas, people choose not to.

how Mike?..

all Canberra homes are brick built...yet when the fire came through it spared nothing.....

we dont seem to learn anything as far as I am concerned....you know its still amazing men and women that put their lives on the line.. that prevent it doing even more damage...


nothing seems to change.....

There was a house that survived in one of the Victorian bushfires.

The place had a sprinkler system set up, tanks, gutters that returned the water to the tank.

Even without elaborate sprinkler systems there are things you can do.

Metal fly screens, shutters ,sealed eaves, clean gutters, or no gutters.
If you have the native vegetation a decent distance from your house ,,, most of the job is controlling any falling embers.
So if you lived in the bush as long as you had a fire bunker to retreat to ,, you could stay and fight a fire.
Dont have wanky evaporative airconditioners.

miketrees wrote on Jan 9^th, 2016 at 12:00pm:

There was a house that survived in one of the Victorian bushfires. The place had a sprinkler system set up, tanks, gutters that returned the water to the tank. Even without elaborate sprinkler systems there are things you can do. Metal fly screens, shutters ,sealed eaves, clean gutters, or no gutters. If you have the native vegetation a decent distance from your house ,,, most of the job is controlling any falling embers. So if you lived in the bush as long as you had a fire bunker to retreat to ,, you could stay and fight a fire. Dont have wanky evaporative airconditioners.

mike, I agree generally,  Embers, due to the high winds made it to Bunbury.

You can use evaporative air-conditioners IF you can turn the fan off AND keep water circulating.

Quote:

all Canberra homes are brick built...yet when the fire came through it spared nothing.....

If you check out some photos of the Canberra fires, you'll see that mostly, there were homes that were left unburnt, surrounded by those who were destroyed.

When you live in a city, it's easy to assume you're immune from things like bushfire. Canberra got a big wake up call.