19th of January  1961    Dwellingup and South-Western, West Australia
On 19 January, after several days of hot weather and low humidity spawned several fires, a chain of thunderstorms swept the area extending from Mundaring in the north to Manjimup in the south.
Between 5.30 and 6pm, 10 fires started from LIGHTNING strikes 20-25km from Dwellingup, 110km south of Perth.

On 20 January, thunderstorms again swept the area, starting 9 more bushfires in State Forests near Dwellingup. In addition, fires were burning at Gooseberry Hill, Kalamundah, Glen Forest, Mellan, Dandalup, Greenmount, Denmark & Kingsbrook.
Over 40,000ha had been burnt in 4 days.
After 4 weeks of constant firefighting, on 24 January, the temperature rose to 41C & relative humidity dropped to 14%. Because of a tropical cyclone to the north, strong winds of 50-60km/h blew into the south-west of the State, igniting all the extensive forests.

Many small timber towns deep in the forests were hastily evacuated. Dwellingup became an evacuation centre, as police at Pinjarra, 24km away, received a message that fire, completely out of control, was approaching the town, containing 1,000 people.
The last message to Pinjarra Post Office from Dwellingup reported that the local garage had exploded, & that houses on both sides of the P.O. were in flames. All roads into the town were cut by fire.

Ionization of the atmosphere by the fire blacked out communication to the Forestry Department's portable two-way radio in the town. When the fire had passed & the radio became operable again, it was learnt that no serious casualties had occurred. All the people had been moved to a large open space near the town's centre & escaped the fire.

However, 132 homes, 2 service stations & 3 shops had been destroyed. Nearby timber villages of Holyoak & Nanga Brook were almost completely destroyed, with no casualties, as residents were evacuated to Dwellingup.

Between 11-15 February, blow-up conditions again occurred & moderate-heavy damage caused in the Manjimup-Pemberton-Shannon River area. In early March, serious fires hit the Augusta-Margaret River area. From January to March of that year, about 1.8M ha had been burnt in the south-west, with consequential large loss of livestock.
Estimated Total cost incurred.  $35,000,000

1st of January  1978    South-Western, West Australia Bushfires
High winds from ex-Cyclone 'Alby', combined with hot dry conditions caused more than 70 bushfires.
These stretched from Wanneroo north of Perth to Pemberton in the south-west tip of the State.

One of the worst fires, south-east of Perth, destroyed 6 buildings and many fences. The high winds, which gusted up to 130km/h in Perth, whipped up dust and sand storms in dry regional areas and caused widespread power blackouts.

Thousands of sheep and cattle died in the fires and entire apple and potato crops were destroyed. By the time the fires were brought under control, they had burnt out about 31,500ha and caused two human fatalities.

15th of December  1997    Perth and SW Region, West Australia Bushfire
Two people died and 21 were injured in 3 major bushfires.
A woman, 18, of Brookton, was found burnt to death off the Great Southern Highway, 6km north of Pingelly, south-east of Perth. (She mistakenly left her bogged car in an unsuccessful attempt to flee flames).

An elderly volunteer firefighter, 75, who suffered burns to 80 per cent of his body at Wellstead, north-east of Albany, east of the Stirling Ranges, died in hospital.
Of the 21 injured, 10 were sent to hospital and 5 firefighters were in a serious condition.

The blaze burnt through 21,050 ha of land in the Pingelly & Brookton Shires, with stock losses more than 10,000.
One Pingelly farmer lost farm machinery, sheds, a sheepyard and 27km of fencing.
Four bridges on the Great Southern Highway from Brookton to Pingelly were destroyed and the road was closed indefinitely.

Residents of Brookton were evacuated as the fires moved closer to the town. Eight cars were destroyed in the Perth suburb of Kewdale, believed to have started when overhead powerlines touched trees, and spread through a carpark. Flames threatened houses at Bindoon, north-east of Perth, and destroyed 1,400ha of pasture land & forest. Nearby, fires on a residential estate gutted one abandoned house & damaged 11 sheds & outbuildings.
Estimated cost.$2,500,000.

Bushfire season 2002 - 2003
The 2002-03 bushfire season in the southern half of Western Australia have been described as the one of the most severe in 42 years.
A total of 656 wildfires burnt 2.11 million ha of land managed by the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM). Of this, more than half (1.15 million ha) occurred in other crown lands, 0.53 million ha in National Parks, 0.16 million ha in nature reserves and 0.15 million ha in private property.
Despite the hazardous conditions during bushfire suppression and during prescribed burning operations there was only one fire fighter seriously injured.⁽¹⁾

3rd of Fevruary  2007     Dwellingup, WA. Bushfire:
A fire burnt through 13,000 hectares and destroyed 14 homes and damaged a further three homes in the town of Dwellingup, 70 km south-east of Perth.

More than 1000 people were involved in containing the fire, including 550 DEC staff, 70 Forest Products Commission staff, more than 150 volunteer bush fire brigade members as well as staff form the Police, FESA, the Department for Community Development, St John’s, SES, Alcoa, the Salvation Army, and other organisations.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported temperatures on the 3rd February into the mid to high 40°Cs (Hyden 48.6°C, Northam 48.1°C and Cunderdin 48.0°C) and strong dry northerly winds that caused the extreme fire weather conditions across the South West Land Division. There were also other significant fires at Greenfields/ Parklands/ North Yunderup, High Wycombe/ Hazelmere, Toodyay, Forrestdale, Grass Valley and Williams that burnt fences, sheds and ground structures.

A woman died when her car crashed as she tried to flee the approaching fire near Toodyay.
The Western Australian Premier declared fire impacted areas a natural disaster.

28th of December  2007    Boorabbin National Park, WA
Three men died on the Great Eastern Highway, between Southern Cross and Coolgardie, after a wind change forced a large bushfire across the highway on the evening of 30 December.

The Great Eastern Highway had previously been closed because of the bushfire in the Boorabbin National Park, which started on Friday 28th December.
The highway was re-opened at about 7.45 pm on 30th December, just prior to the wind change. The bushfire had burnt approximately 29,000 ha by 2 January 2008.