Author: Bob the Builder

On Saturday, 15th February 2025, at 12.50, a call came into Yallingup Rural FCO, Matty Muir, reporting a fire in the Cape Rise area. Matty along with all appliances from Yallingup Rural responded. With the Dunsborough FCOs unavailable, Matt was seconded by his superiors to take control of the situation. After a quick size up of the fire and the situation, Matt immediately alerted DFES to set the incident at an Emergency Level Bushfire Warning.

Not only was the fire threatening lives and property in the area but also the Dunsborough CBD, Fire Station, St Johns depot and Cape Care Aged Facility.

All the City of Busselton Brigades were called out. Support came from Margaret River, Augusta, Capel and Bunbury. Hot weather and winds fanned the flames into a very substantial blaze, threatening homes and people.

 2000 residents were evacuated and firefighters worked continuously in shifts throughout Saturday night, Sunday and Monday to bring the fire under control and conduct meticulous essential “blacking out” to eliminate the danger of re-ignition.

65 appliances and 5 Air Attack were involved in the initial response, and numerous local appliances were involved in mopping up, securing the fire and monitoring for hot spots. Matt, the Incident Controller for the Sunday afternoon (the major part of the fire ), said,  “Considering the conditions and the fuel that the fire got into, the Dunsborough Townsite escaped significant damage with only a few perimeter fences scorched. There was very minor damage, and that’s a testament to the fantastic work of the crews on the fireground. That could’ve been a very different outcome” .

On Friday, 19th January 2024, Yallingup Rural, Sussex and Wilyabrup assisted the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) - commonly known as Parks and Wildlife, in the state forest in Jalbarragup, Shire of Nannup.

The Brigades spent the day building and strengthening containment lines in the difficult terrain of the Millbrook State Forest.

At midnight 15th January 2024, the Brigade was called to a fire on the corner of Thornton and Brash Road. Our sister brigades from Wilyabrup, Yallingup Coastal and Dunsborough assisted in containing and controlling the fire.

Mopping up (blacking out) and monitoring was undertaken over the following few days to ensure no flare-ups given the extreme fire danger rating and total fire ban that were implemented by the DFES authorities.

On 12th/13th January 2024, YRVBFB were part of a combined task force, led by DFES, with other brigades from City of Busselton and Augusta/ Margaret River to assist in a fire on private land on the Collie-Williams road in the Shire of Collie.

When the task force arrived, the fire was still at a ‘Watch and Act’ level. The teams spent two days building containment lines which proved to be a significant challenge due to high gusty winds and high ground temperatures.

Captain Matt Muir who attended on both days praised the work of all the crews from the Lower South West (LSW) considering the testing conditions.