WATERBOMBERS made all the difference at the Wickepin fire, according to local farmer and Liberal Agricultural Region MP Steve Martin.
With the fire raging from Sunday morning well into the evening, Mr Martin got the call for help at about 10.30am and jumped in the fire truck with his cousin, who lives next door.
"Even at 8.30am, you could just tell that it was the worst possible day for a fire so we really hoped there wouldn't be one," Mr Martin said.
"There was a movement of vehicle ban on early which was great, but unfortunately the fire started just north of the Wickepin-Narrogin bitumen road, roared through a reserve and then onto some farmland and by the time we arrived it was all ablaze.
"It was hot, with a roaring north westerly, so even the pasture paddocks were running a fire."
Mr Martin said at one point he counted about six aerial water bombers and helicopters above where he and his cousin were stationed.
His cousin's farm also came under threat that afternoon with several paddocks of bush, stubble and pasture burnt and kilometres of fencing damaged.
"The waterbombers were doing an amazing job, sucking water out of dams in really heavy smoke," Mr Martin said.
"Where we were, there were at least 10 or 12 fire units, but there would have been hundreds of volunteers at the fire, it was such a big front that they were coming from everywhere."
He said limited mobile reception and black spots in the area were frustrating and potentially dangerous for bushfire volunteers, as it added another layer of difficulty for the crews who usually used WhatsApp groups to communicate across fire fronts.
"The fire was also spread across a few shires so that made it a bit more complicated, but the volunteers did a good job," Mr Martin said.
With bush in the area still smouldering on Monday, he said any stubble that wasn't already burnt in the area was at risk of a flare up and it would be an anxious week for the community.
"We only had a few spots of rain on Sunday night, so there will be bushes smouldering away for a long time," Mr Martin said.
"It's pretty early in summer so we have some very bare paddocks until there's a break in the season, so that's obviously a bit of a risk as well."
With many power poles in the region damaged by the fire, Mr Martin said his power had been out since Sunday morning and he had been told it would be a week before it would be back on.
"I believe there has been substantial stock damage in our area, so farmers will need some support around that as well as in repairing their fences that have been damaged," he said.
"But the community will jump in to help each other out with things like that, they always do."
