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Nanga Brook fires contained as State Government reveals financial relief plans

Craig DuncanHarvey-Waroona Reporter
Starting on March 23 the fire quickly burnt through much of the Shire of Waroona and Shire of Murray.
Camera IconStarting on March 23 the fire quickly burnt through much of the Shire of Waroona and Shire of Murray. Credit: Craig Duncan/Harvey-Waroona Reporter

The Nanga Brook bushfires that have ravaged the region for the past week, burning through 3000ha of bush and blanketing the south in smoke, are close to being contained, with one-off payments for victims announced by the State Government.

The fire started in Lane Pool Reserve on March 23 before quickly spreading through the Shire of Waroona and Shire of Murray.

Eight residences were lost in the inferno, three of which were family homes, with the others understood to be short-stay accommodation.

On March 26, Premier Roger Cook revealed relief payment for the residents whose homes were directly damaged or destroyed by the bushfires.

A one-off payment of $4000 is available for applicants whose homes were destroyed or suffered major damage rendering the property uninhabitable.

A similar one-off payment of $2000 is also available for applicants whose home suffered partial damage as a result of the fires.

Both of these payments are only available once per household.

At a community information session on Tuesday, deputy incident controller Shawn Debono said they were now calling the fire contained.

“It is not controlled, there is still a fair bit of work to do in mopping up and making the area safe before we call it controlled,” he said.

“(But) there is still a huge contingent on the fire ground, about 200 personnel, both on the fire grounds and on the incident management teams with a huge commitment to this fire.

It was also revealed last week the fire was deemed to have started accidentally, when a camping couple’s car battery caught fire when they attempted to use it to charge their phones.

At a community meeting on Monday, Waroona shire president Mike Walmsley expressed his immense gratitude to the community and firefighters for their management of the crisis.

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