A COMMUNITY recovery meeting was held yesterday at the Scott River Fire Shed to keep Nannup residents informed about the blaze which is currently raging in the area.
The fire broke through containment lines yesterday and a bushfire watch and act remains for people west of Lake Quitjup and Black Point and White Point.
The fire is west of White Point Road and is burning in a west-north-west direction toward Wapet Track.
As a large group of residents and officers from various agencies gathered, water bombers could be heard overhead and smoke could be seen in the distance as the fire again took hold.
Shire president Tony Dean opened the meeting with Nannup CEO Robert Jennings following with an introduction.
DEC Incident Controller Rob Turner gave a rundown of the fire and showed a map of the various areas which had burned.
Mr Turner said one of the main concerns had been to stop the fire impacting on Manjimup and Donnelly and many of the prescribed burns conducted recently had helped reduce the fire in some areas.
He praised the efforts by the Volunteer Fire brigades and the Blue Gum Plantation workers.
He said with the fire still not fully contained and the predicted weather conditions the incident management team at Kirup would be continually monitoring the fire.
As of this afternoon the fire had burnt through more than 30,000 hectares and was burning in tea-tree and paperbark wetlands.
According to the Fire and Emergency Services Authority access to the are is limited because of boggy conditions.
Western Power Field Services Coordinator Bertram Maikmus, who is based in Bridgetown, explained at the meeting the necessity to turn off power in the various areas.
He said although it meant people not affected by the fires were without power for some time it was essential for safety.
All power had been restored by Monday to the affected areas and only six power poles had to be replaced.
Mr Turner said the current priority was to put out the fire.
“Once this happens we will move to the next phase. If you have been impacted by the fires you will be contacted to identify damage and prompt payment will be organised, but in the meantime DEC understands you need to keep your business going, so if we can help, if you need equipment such as fuel tanks we can hire them until they can be replaced,” he said.
Several questions from the floor highlighted how some people had found it difficult to gain access to their properties, although many were involved with the fire brigades and knew the area well.
FESA Regional Director for the lower South West John Tillman said this had been identified and FESA was in the process of organising car stickers for volunteer fire fighters to enable them access through road blocks.
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