Lightning sparks three bushfires
Lightning sparks three bushfires
3January 2005
publishedby Herald and Weekly Times
LIGHTNING strikes have sparked three bushfires in Western Australia.
The Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) this morning responded to two fires near Manjimup in the state’s south-west.
One of the blazes was at the Lake Muir Nature Reserve, east of Manjimup, and the other in Wattle Forest block between Manjimup and Walpole.
Another blaze has also been detected in the Fitzgerald River National Park between Bremer Bay and Hopetoun, about 600km south-east of Perth.
A CALM spokesman said the fire at Lake Muir was relatively inaccessible because of the nearby wetlands, considered of international ecological significance.
The fire is about 40ha in size but CALM warned the blaze might expand to more than 1000ha before it could be contained within existing fire breaks.
Meanwhile, a blaze started by lightning in the Albany area, on WA’s south coast, last week continues to burn, with water bombing helicopters being used to damp down hot spots.
More warnings of lightning-induced blazes have been issued, with weather forecasters predicting warmer conditions and more thunderstorms later in the week.
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