Margaret River residents and fire brigade remember devastating 2011 bushfires

Wallcliffe Volunteer Bushfire Brigade members have shared their stories from 2011, along with residents caught up in the drama of those wild and windy November days spent trying to save their homes from destruction. Wallcliffe was among the brigades rebadged to dual-use brigade after the Keelty Inquiry into the disaster found local knowledge was insufficiently drawn upon by outside professionals, and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services Capes Enhancement Strategy injected more equipment, training and vehicles into the region after most of it was gazetted as a high-risk district. The fires of 2011 fundamentally changed and improved the way authorities dealt with bushfire danger, and the experiences of local brigade veterans, including those from Wallcliffe, later became crucial when Capes firefighters helped in the destructive Waroona bushfires in 2016, and later over east and even overseas. Veteran Wallcliffe member Rod Dilkes said on the first day of the disaster, his crew were deployed south of Ellensbrook, but were sent back to Prevelly as “once we got there it was clear the fire was roaring due south along the coastal heath”. “The speed the fire was travelling was astonishing,” he said. “The inferno eventually came over Kilcarnup ridge, jumped the river as if it wasn’t even there, and came up the valley straight over the top of us. “It was a scene from hell.” “Houses were burning everywhere. Haunting. Like watching a horror movie in 3-D. “Dark as night overhead with smoke and orange fury everywhere, ash falling, soot coating our windows.” Volunteer firey Scott Jones had just started with Wallcliffe after heavy involvement as a senior St John Ambulance volunteer. “I remember walking out to the street and seeing smoke rising up from Prevelly,” he said. “It was a surreal sight. I thought about what we could do to help, phoned St John communications and asked for support, but they said fires were not our business. “But we could clearly see at a local level this was quickly going to become our business, so we organised ourselves and got ambulance crews from Augusta, Dunsborough and Busselton to come and support what was going to be a massive community effort.” By day’s end, with no back-up from St John, the volunteers established a treatment centre at Gloucester Park’s emergency headquarters. “A mini city was springing up. Trucks, tents and trailers, fire trucks from all over the shire and further afield were rolling in with tired and exhausted crews,” Mr Jones said. The ambulance crews worked with Margaret River Hospital and aged-care workers to evacuate the town’s Farrelly Street centres. “Over the coming days, the St John volunteers treated over 100 firefighters for smoke inhalation, eye irritations, burns, strains and so on, but mainly providing a safe space to be looked after instead of doing the looking after,” he said. “Two days into the fire, our ambulance phones went off for an emergency call: ‘Hello, this is Comms HQ, just letting you know there is a fire in the area’.” Former resident John Bradbury lost his home to the bushfires. “We never thought it would happen to us,” he said. “We grieved for the landscape and the wildlife, too, the whole time relieved knowing that no lives were lost. “The lessons came loud and clear — be prepared for wildfires, do your maintenance, and if it happens again, then get everyone to a safe place.” Local knowledge and a can-do attitude were later acknowledged in the review into how the bushfires started and were managed. Personal heroics during the disaster were exemplified by Orchard Ramble resident Peter Fabrici, who recently earned a separate bravery award from a 2019 vehicle rescue. During the 2011 bushfires, Mr Fabrici stayed to protect the house he built himself and ended up sheltering at the bottom of a neighbour’s pool wearing scuba gear as the blaze tore overhead. The two houses Mr Fabrici built on the street were among the only ones left standing. An experienced diver and professional builder, when the firestorm crashed down on his home, Mr Fabrici grabbed a trolley containing his scuba gear and kicked through a fence to shelter at the bottom of his neighbour’s swimming pool. He later helped volunteer firefighters save another home. “Mate, I’m done with talking about the fire,” he told the Times. “It’s something I’d prefer to forget. If you want to put me down for a comment? Failing to plan is a plan to fail.” Volunteers all urged all residents, particularly new arrivals, to treat bushfire planning as a life-and-death matter. Wallcliffe volunteer Sean Blocksidge said the Bushfire Ready app should be on all devices. “It’s frightening to see how complacent the same local communities have become over the last decade,” he said. “Many of those same homes are now surrounded by trees and shrubs again, and most residents still don’t have a proper fire plan.” “Please don’t be complacent with your fire preparation,” Mr Jones said. “Ready your homes now and have your plans in place so that our emergency services volunteers have the best chance to save lives and homes.” Mr Dilkes said 2011 was a “sobering lesson”. “Everyone in the Margaret River region needs a fire plan,” he said. “Things happen so fast, it’s hard to think straight as things get worse.”