As it happened: WA news on Friday, November 29

We’re bringing our blog to a close for today. Thanks for joining us.

As we leave you this evening, emergency services are hoping to downgrade the bushfire in the Wheatbelt town of Cervantes to a watch and act in the next two to three hours, allowing for the northern section of Indian Ocean Drive to reopen.

Crews are still actively fighting the fire in Grey and Wedge Island.

The blaze, which has been burning since Monday, has now destroyed 75,000 hectares of land.

In good news — they have managed to conduct two strategic burns to protect the Nambung National Park, which is home to the Pinnacles.

Remember, for the most up-to-date information, visit Emergency WA, call 13 DFES (13 3337), follow DFES on Facebook, listen to ABC Local Radio, 6PR, or news bulletins.

Thank you again for joining us. Have a wonderful weekend.

Join us again next week for more news you need to know.

Residents who fled Cervantes for Jurien Bay as a bushfire approached the Wheatbelt town have been told the emergency warning could be downgraded in a matter of hours, allowing for part of its main arterial route to reopen and evacuees to venture home.

During a community briefing, DFES superintendent Damien Pumphrey said crews were hoping to downgrade the warning for the out-of-control blaze near Cervantes to a watch and act within the next two to three hours.

The move would allow emergency services to reopen the stretch of Indian Ocean Drive connecting the town to Jurien Bay, where dozens of residents have sought refuge at an evacuation centre.

Pumphrey said ground crews had made considerable progress, having put in large containment lines around the fire — which now has a perimeter of 360-kilometres.

But he warned residents to continue to monitor the conditions and brace for “unpredictable weather”.

“Continue monitoring Emergency WA, because tomorrow’s weather and that in the days following could be really unpredictable, and the situation could change,” he said.

“Get in and out of the community. Do what you need to do.”

About 200 firefighters remain on the ground battling the blaze which began more than five days ago and has so far burnt through 75,000 hectares of land.

It is believed to have been sparked by a fatal car crash.

Crews are still actively fighting the fire in Grey and Wedge Island and have managed to prevent any impact to residences.

Emergency crews have managed to conduct two strategic burns to protect the Nambung National Park, which is located about 200 kilometres north-west of Perth and is home to the Pinnacles.

More than 200 firefighters are continuing to battle an out of control bushfire in Cervantes this afternoon, which has now destroyed almost 75,000 hectares of land.

The blaze, which spans 360 kilometres, has been burning through the Wheatbelt towns of Wedge, Nambung and Grey since Monday morning, about 200 kilometres north of Perth.

The fire is moving in a north-easterly direction, with firefighters still working to build containment lines around the Cervantes town site as aerial support attempts to help ground crews.

The Shire of Dandaragan is due to host a community briefing within the next half an hour for those at the Jurien Bay Sport and Recreation Centre, which is currently being used as a refuge for dozens of evacuees.

More than 35 residents in Grey and Wedge Island who opted to stay and defend their homes have been warned it is now too late for them to evacuate.

A number of roads remain closed this afternoon, including Indian Ocean Drive between Ocean Place and Middleton Boulevard; Bibby Road, Wongonderrah Road, Meadows Road, Cervantes Road and Munbinea Road south of the Cervantes Road intersection; Seville Street and Bradley Loop.

The fire is understood to have been sparked by a fatal car crash.

Perth Lord Mayor and Liberal candidate for Churchlands Basil Zempilas says the past week of political turmoil has not damaged his election chances.

Speaking to 6PR’s Gary Adshead this morning he maintained he did not lie about his connection to the polling, facilitated by his former campaign manager Cam Sinclair, that triggered a challenge of Libby Mettam’s Liberal leadership.

When asked whether this week had damaged his prospects at next year’s state election Zempilas said: “I don’t think so.”

Zempilas has been under increased pressure from Labor ministers this week seeking to exploit the chaos in the Liberal Party as the number of days until the election dropped below 100.

The identity of a businessman who commissioned Ammo Marketing to do the poll remains unknown despite Mettam challenging the “coward” to come forward.

You can read more here.

A magistrate has just given former day care worker Kerri Wharf a suspended sentence and awarded her over $200,000 in costs for what he described as “bizarre behaviour” that led to her being charged with 32 counts of unlawful assault.

Ultimately, the 28-year-old was only found guilty of five of the charges and acquitted on the rest after a massive legal case that involved 50 witnesses, 270 exhibits and a trial that lasted seven weeks but was stretched over a year and a half.

Kerri Wharf was handed a suspended sentence. Credit: Nine News Perth

Wharf was arrested in 2020 after the Child Abuse Squad was called to GoodStart Early Learning in Banksia Grove.

Multiple families had complained their children, all under five, came home with severe scratches.

Magistrate Matthew Walton this morning said that in 20 years of legal work he “struggled to understand this bizarre behaviour” and called it “completely inappropriate… abhorrent behaviour”.

Wharf was given a seven-month sentence for each of the five cases she was found guilty of, suspended for seven months and was given a supervision program to complete.

In other bushfire news, residents from a coastal town at the centre of the emergency have been rescued from a local beach by boat.

The fire can be seen over the dunes at a local beach. Credit: 9 News Perth

About 37 residents in Wedge and Grey chose to stay in their communities as the blaze burned through the roads in and out of the villages.

Dandaragan Shire President Tony O’Gorman said some residents from Grey were rescued by boat from a beach on Thursday.

“Our fisheries vessel (in Jurien Bay to the north) and our marine rescue people went down and took those people off the beach because it was just too risky to leave them there,” he said.

O’Gorman said the situation had improved since Thursday, but the wind was expected to “whip up” during the day.

“We had those large air tankers come in yesterday afternoon and drop some retardant all along the fire front,” he said.

“(We’re) feeling fairly confident this morning.”

Incident controller Damien Pumphrey said the blaze reached the main road into Cervantes overnight, but containment lines were still holding.

“We’re doing a lot of work in that area ... reducing the risk as much as possible,” he told ABC News on Friday.

AAP

An out-of-control bushfire has tripled in size since Wednesday, burning through 73,000 hectares and forcing residents in coastal Wheatbelt towns to evacuate.

Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm and Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson have just provided an update on the fire, and said strong winds and high fuel loads have been challenging for the 200 firefighters at the scene.

Klemm said it had been an “incredibly challenging week” and was expecting the difficult conditions to continue, with a thunderstorm predicted on Friday evening.

The storm will bring lightning and little rain, posing a risk of further fires.

Klemm said two volunteer firefighters had a lucky escape on Thursday after a power pole fell on a vehicle they were in, trapping them inside. They were rescued and are uninjured.

There have been no reports of property loss or loss of life. Dawson said 93 per cent of WA was bushfire prone, and urged the community to create a bushfire plan as the summer months approach.

The fire started on Monday, and was believed to have been sparked by a fatal car crash.

To the courts now and a Balcatta machining and heavy metal fabrication business has been fined $250,000 over a 2021 incident that resulted in a worker suffering from serious injuries including nearly 50 facial fractures.

Twoex Pty Ltd – trading as West City Engineering – pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment, causing serious harm to an employee.

It was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court yesterday, also ordered to pay $5990 in costs.

In May 2021, the employee was tasked to “bump bend” a piece of grade two titanium – not a material he regularly worked with – on a press brake machine, when a section broke free and hit him in the face.

He suffered serious and permanent facial injuries including 47 facial fractures, a 15-centimetre laceration and permanent eye damage.

WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said it was disappointing when workplaces did not conduct risk assessments for non-routine work.

“The company did have a safe work procedure for the press brake, but it was kept in the office and only shown to workers when they were learning how to use the machine and was not regularly consulted or reviewed,” she said.

WA’s Culture and Arts Minister David Templeman performed his annual end-of-year song on Thursday – the last to grace the halls of parliament house before his time as a state politician ends.

Templeman has performed a song every year since 2017. This year it was set to Where Do You Go To My Lovely by Peter Sarstedt.

Sporting a Fremantle scarf and wearing a tie covered in South Park’s Eric Cartman, Templeman wrapped up his time in parliament through verse, covering some of the biggest developments since he was first elected in 2001.

“So goodbye my friends in the parliament, I am free and now I can roam. Thank you for your friendship and kindness, but screw you guys, I’m going home,” he concluded.

You can hear the full four-minute performance below.

In case you missed it yesterday, WA Police have arrested fugitives from NSW just outside a small roadhouse community in the state’s southeast.

A 38-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man have been accused of kidnapping a man at gun point in Port Macquarie and taking him to Bago national park, where he was shot a number of times.

Arrest vision shows WA Police approaching the vehicle, armed with guns. The officers yell at the pair, fugitives from NSW accused of kidnapping and attempted murder, to put their hands on the windows.Credit: WA Police

The man suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds to his arms and legs before being taken to hospital in a serious condition.

It is believed the pair then made their way across the country in a 2014 Holden Trax SUV, crossing the border into WA on November 20.

Their car appeared to be suffering a mechanical fault and was found around 100 metres from the Balladonia Roadhouse, along the Eyre Highway on the Nullarbor Plain, in scrubland.

The pair were taken into custody through what police have described as a high-risk arrest strategy. During the arrest of the 38-year-old an officer suffered minor facial injuries.

A search of the vehicle lead to police seizing a loaded sawn-off rifle. The pair were extradited to NSW earlier this week to face serious kidnapping and attempted murder charges.

Both have been refused bail.