Battle in the big smoke — Narrogin volunteers share dramatic account of Perth Hills firefight

Tasked with protecting a youth retreat in Gidgegannup north-east of Perth, a trio of Narrogin volunteer firefighters had to wait for the fire to come to them. Narrogin Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service captain Cameron Hayes, Shire of Narrogin president Leigh Ballard and William Davey each have more than a decade of experience fighting fires. But the massive blaze that destroyed 86 homes in the Perth Hills presented a new challenge. “We had crews lined up waiting for the fire to come out of the hills because we couldn’t get into those areas,” Capt. Hayes said. “You knew what was coming but you couldn’t do anything until it was right there in front of you. “When it eventually did reach where we were waiting, it was just all hands on deck. “We were probably in the thick of it for a good 40 minutes. “The helitacs were dropping water right above us. We all got wet — it was bloody cold. But we couldn’t have done much without the aerial support.” Capt. Hayes said one element of the firefighting operation that stood out to him was the “sheer efficiency of the air attack units”. At its peak, the Perth Hills bushfire had a perimeter of more than 130km, with more than 500 firefighters on the ground. It burnt through more than 10,000ha. “I’ve never been to a fire of that scale,” Cr Ballard said. “We only saw a couple of portions of it but the numbers of people and units was quite phenomenal. “It would be a huge logistical nightmare to deal with, but it was a logistical nightmare of a fire because of the terrain we were dealing with. “The first day in particular would have been very nasty.” Department of Fire and Emergency Services Upper Great Southern Supt Sven Andersen was called out from his post in Narrogin to act as the incident controller for the bushfire. He said he was proud of the volunteers who had rushed to Perth from across WA. “The amount of volunteers who now go and assist fires in other regions is growing. It is amazing,” he said. The Narrogin trio was in one of two Upper Great Southern Strike teams formed from volunteers from the Great Southern and the southern Wheatbelt. They were on the fireground from last Wednesday to Friday. Cr Ballard said firefighters from those regions were more accustomed to chasing fires across paddocks. He said waiting for the fire to cross hilly terrain was a different experience. “At the end of the day, if anything like this ever happened in Narrogin, I’d want the support to come and help us out,” he said. “Some of those guys early in the piece were probably fighting it for 24 hours without sleep. They needed a break.”