Yarloop Blaze

YARLOOP- Emergency services finally put the fires out after fighting the Yarloop-Waroona fires for 17 days straight.

The Yarloop fires were at full throttle; about 50 residents were taken back roads and across other peoples properties to get to their own and as a result people got extremely frustrated and angry.

Police issued a warning to local residents to take care. Local resident and farmer Henry Reid said the fires were the worst he had experienced and that it would take a lot of time to repair the fences and sheds that were destroyed because of the fire.

Emergency services say the fire alert was triggered about 25 minutes before the blaze went through Yarloop at around about 7.35 pm and the fires were reported at Yarloop at 8.00pm, but 25 minutes was not long enough for two elderly men.

The fires where so big it formed its own weather system.

Diagram of a firestorm.

Recreation sites including the Bibbulum trail, the Munda Biddi trail have been closed down for a month and may shut down.

The fire destroyed 181 houses, burnt down almost 170,000 acres, and took the lives two elderly men.

Experts have stated that the fires started because of heavy lightning and lack of water.