Blazes destroy homes, livestock, cut freight route

The Grampians National Park fire threatened to flare again on Sunday, while in Western Australia, an out-of-control blaze has cut off the main freight route north of Perth.

The bushfire emergency in the shire of Irwin. Picture: Cassie Healy

The Grampians National Park fire threatened to flare again on Sunday as an out-of-control blaze on the other side of the country cut off the main freight route north of Perth.

The West Australian blaze closed a section of Brand Highway, the heavy haulage route between Perth and the port city of Geraldton. That fire, which remained uncontained and uncontrolled late on Sunday, also shut down the popular seaside holiday village of Dongara, about 300km north of Perth.

As firefighters in Victoria strengthened containment lines around the Grampians blaze, Anthony Albanese visited the incident control centre at Horsham, 300km northwest of Melbourne, to announce financial help for affected individuals. They can each apply to the federal government for up to 13 weeks of payments.

By late Sunday, authorities had confirmed the Grampians blaze had destroyed three homes. There were unconfirmed reports that 1000 sheep perished in the fire and that commercial beehives were destroyed. By Sunday afternoon, smoke blanketed the fire zone. The smoke was so thick that some returning residents believed the fire was back in full force, prompting incident controller James Taylor to urge people not to call triple-0 unless they saw flames.

Cooler weather helped Victorian firefighters overnight on Saturday, but there were more emergency warnings on Sunday as it became clear that windy conditions could undo progress. It could be weeks before the Grampians blaze is extinguished. A lightning strike on December 17 is believed to have started the fire, which had a perimeter of almost 400km on Sunday.

The three homes known to have been destroyed were at Moyston. There were 11 destroyed sheds and outbuildings at Moyston and Pomonal.

Firefighters worked on three blazes within the Grampians fire zone on Sunday.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said assessment of the damage was ongoing.

The threat has been reduced to a watch and act warning for Halls Gap, Pomonal and the eastern side of the Grampians, allowing residents to return on Sunday.

The bushfire emergency in the shire of Irwin. Picture: Cassie Healy

In WA, the blaze north of Perth had cut power to 136 homes and businesses on Sunday. Residents in the coastal and rural shire of Irwin were warned to leave because the fire represented “a threat to lives and homes”.

Farmers were fighting the fire using their own trucks, alongside professional firefighters. Emergency services were also using planes to dump water on the blaze.

About 1000km inland, another blaze was uncontained in the northern Goldfields region of WA. It was 13km north of the Murrin Murrin cobalt mine and stationary on Sunday night.

In Queensland, heatwaves were expected to last until Tuesday in the Gulf Country, Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders and North Tropical Coast and Tablelands Districts. Forecasters predicted heatwaves until Tuesday in the Northern Territory’s Daly and Arnhem districts.

The weather bureau warned that floodwaters from the Warrego River in Queensland would continue to move along the river in NSW. Moderate flooding was expected at Fords Bridge.