When Pingaring mixed farmer Evan Wyatt spotted a spiral of smoke in the distance last Thursday morning, he knew it was a cause for concern.
However, without mobile phone coverage, internet or power, he was unable to alert emergency services or even contact other locals to pinpoint the fire's exact location.
And he was not alone, after unprecedented summer storms cut power to tens of thousands in the Wheatbelt, Goldfields and Great Southern regions for several days.
"Everything had shut down, not even the boosters were working, we had absolutely no signal," Mr Wyatt said.
"I decided to try the UHF fire radio, which was working because I had my generator running.
"Finally I got a hold of someone, they went and had a look for the fire, which I believed was north of Newdegate, but couldn't find anything.
"Within less than half an hour the smoke was gone, the bush must've gone up and that was it."
Two hours later, temperatures started to rise and the fire reignited - this time it showed no signs of slowing down.
Realising the fire was in the 32,000 hectare Dragon Rocks Reserve and still without communication, Mr Wyatt, who is also the Pingaring-Jilakin bush brigade captain, Kulin deputy chief officer and Lake Grace dual fire officer, started to panic.
"We were trying to get things moving, but even the fire radios had shut down because the power had been out for too long and the backup batteries hadn't lasted," he said.
"Just as we started to wonder how we were going to get everyone there, our mobile phone coverage returned."
Mr Wyatt put the call out to triple zero at about midday, and Lake Grace deputy chief bushfire control officer Matt Castaldini, who had access to reliable connectivity via Starlink in his ute, also helped by liaising with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) and Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).
More than 100 volunteer firefighters from Hyden, Holt Rock, Newdegate, Lake Grace, Mt Walker, Narembeen and Kulin supported the Pingaring-Jilakin brigade in fighting the fire, alongside DBCA.
Each brigade covered two to three 12-hour shifts and worked around the clock to stop the blaze from spreading any further and outside the reserve.
Aerial support was also sent, with three water bombers and a plane to survey the area, and four dozers, six heavy loaders, two large graders and other machinery used to run breaks on farmland either side of the reserve.
The fire was believed to have started by lightning in the storm, about one kilometre inside Dragon Rocks Reserve off Pingaring Varley Road.
As the reserve had not been burnt in about 30 years, the fuel load was high.
Working through the night, to keep the fire contained, crews were surprised to see mobile phone coverage had dropped out again Friday morning.
Fortunately, Mr Castaldini was again able to use Starlink to provide a report to DBCA and DFES.
The fire continued throughout Friday, and Mr Wyatt said at about 4pm it was "really cranking".
"We thought we had lost it and that it was going to jump the Kulin-Holt Rock Road," he said.
"We had mobile phones, emergency fire radios, repeaters and normal UHF, but despite having coverage, we weren't getting very good reception from the repeaters - I'm not sure why.
"I was having trouble communicating with the guys at the north eastern end of the fire, so I had to send Lake Grace fire control officer Doc Roberts as a runner.
"Dock ran around to that side and made sure he was in a spot where I could communicate with him - he sorted and co-ordinated things from that end."
Mr Wyatt said volunteers were struggling to liaise with the aerial support and other trucks by radio because those lines were down.
He said every form of communication was needed in an emergency situation and even having one line down made a challenging situation even more challenging.
"We couldn't see or hear anyone and couldn't even talk to the Pingaring truck by radio because something was going on - whether it was dust, heavy smoke or the repeater was out of range.
"I had phone service, but I couldn't reach them in that particular spot."
Mr Wyatt said Barry Smoker from Kulin, and the water bombers managed to contain the fire to the north east corner on Friday.
Without the water bombers, he said it would have been a different story.
"They were able to soften it up enough for Barry to get the dozers around the end of it and had the Pingaring truck following," he said.
"A heavy grader came in from the north east corner as well, and was able to contain the fire.
"Without them I honestly think it'd still be going and would have reached Hyden.
"Certainly there were a lot of times where we made decisions not to put anyone in front of the fire.
"It was fast moving and dangerous enough that you couldn't get in front of it to mitigate it, which made the job a little more difficult."
At the same time, the fire front came head-to-head with some heavy salmon gum wood, which was bare underneath.
This dropped the intensity and speed of the fire dramatically, from three kilometres per hour to 400 metres per hour.
Mr Wyatt said the fire was contained all day on Friday, before DBCA took over the fire ground at 6pm on Saturday.
"The fire did jump at 2am Saturday morning, but DBCA put it out again and were able to keep it inside the box from then onwards.
"We still took the Pingaring-Jilakin truck out to the reserve and the Karlgarin truck on Sunday as well, to monitor the fire with DBCA," he said.
"All of the other trucks including Hyden, Holt Rock, Newdegate, Lake Grace and Kulin were on standby.
"DBCA will stay at the reserve until around the end of this week at monitoring capacity, they have been fantastic.
"Their assistance and organisation on the fire ground has been invaluable.
"We did a good job because we stopped it getting out of the reserve really, but it was pretty hectic.
"Then Sunday was a real concern because temperatures reached 44 degrees here with 20km winds at some points."
Mr Wyatt said overall 4000ha were burnt within the 32,000ha reserve - he believed the fire showed that more mitigation work needed to be done in the area.
He said control burning should be done in both the larger and smaller reserves.
"Those reserves are just sitting there like a big box of matches, they are dangerous," Mr Wyatt said.
"I think control burning needs to be done not just for fire control, but for the bush itself.
"There's a reserve not far north of us that I'm worried about and it's only a matter of time before lightning strikes in that area.
"You get lightning strikes in a stubble paddock, they start a fire and people are able to get on top of them very quickly.
"Whereas you can get severe conditions in the bush and that's when they become community threatening."
Challenging summer
DFES Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Darren Klemm said it had been a long and challenging start to summer.
Mr Klemm said career and volunteer firefighters across WA did an outstanding job in volatile weather conditions last week.
He said a trough delivered hot, dry and windy conditions over the South West Land Division, coupled with thunderstorms and dry lightning which increased bushfire risk in the Darling Scarp, Goldfields, Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions.
"Between January 15-22, 206 bushfires were reported in the southern half of the State, with 16 of those fires caused by lightning," Mr Klemm said.
"DFES put several measures in place ahead of the elevated fire weather, including forward basing our aerial fleet.
The conditions last week were a timely reminder for all Western Australians to remain vigilant and be ready to activate your bushfire plan."
Mr Klemm said every household needed to have a bushfire plan ready and it only took 15 minutes to make one using the My Bushfire Plan app or website.
"Sit down with your family and make those crucial safety decisions now including when you will leave if a bushfire starts near you, where you will go and how you will get there," he said.
"Stay up to date on Emergency WA, follow the directions of emergency services and call Triple Zero if you see smoke or flames."
