LIGHTNING strikes, heat and wind created a perfect storm for bushfires in southern WA last week.
Firefighters across the Great Southern, Goldfields and Esperance regions rallied together to fight several fires from Tuesday afternoon, with an Emergency warning issued for Ravensthorpe.
Munglinup farmer and firefighter Kirk Whiting first noticed a massive plume of smoke at his property midnight Monday, after a severe thunderstorm.
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Two smaller fires were quickly contained and were only 50 metres wide.
By 10am the next morning, a total movement ban was put in place for the area, as temperatures were forecast to tip 44 degrees.
Mr Whiting said five other fires were reported within a 200 kilometre radius of his farm, after a steady northerly wind started moving at 40 to 50 kilometres per hour.
"These were the biggest bushfires I've attended to in my five years as a firefighter," Mr Whiting said.
"The wind and heat lit the smouldering embers and the fire became very fast moving.
"To start off - with the northerly wind - the fire came out quite quickly, but luckily with the reduced fuel load on pastures we were able to get around and stop it.
"At 4pm Tuesday, a westerly wind kicked in and we clocked a fire going at 60km per hour through scrubland.
"It travelled about three kilometres before the wind switched to a southerly where it stopped."
Mr Whiting said crews were able to contain the larger fires - in Crown land on the corner of Ned's Corner and the South Coast Highway - within two to three days, and on Monday of this week was the first day they weren't actively controlling it.
At the fire's peak, about 80 personnel - from brigades around the region - and 20 fire trucks were on the ground.
Aerial assistance from a large air tanker (LAT) from Bunbury and three 606 crop duster water bombers was also provided.
Mr Whiting said the placement of crew and communication, particularly when it came to wind movement changes, helped control the blaze.
So too did backburning, tracking with dozers and jumping on the fire quickly once it hit pastures.
"The fire was that hot, I observed some water bombing drops evaporating before it even hit flames," he said.
"Fortunately, there were no significant losses because it could have easily turned into a disaster if we weren't careful.
"Our neighbour lost their shed and all up there would have been about 20 kilometres of fencing burnt, along with a few tanks - but nothing major.
"The third fire (the main problem fire) burnt 2000ha of the 7000ha that encircles our farm."
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Mr Whiting said the fires highlighted the importance of bushfire preparedness.
With 7000ha of bushland running around his own farm, he said a 3000 litre fire truck and 966 loader put him in the best possible position to fight the blaze.
"We couldn't have been any better prepared," he said.
"We had a two-way plough running in front of pastures, which helped dramatically and saved a lot of work with the fire trucks.
"The only thing we could have perhaps done differently was some hazard reduction burning last year in the spring months."
