About the Wooroloo Bushfire
At 12:02pm on Monday the 1st of February, 2021, a bushfire was reported in the Western Australian townsite of Wooroloo.
Located on the outer fringe of the Perth metropolitan area, Wooroloo is part of the Shire of Mundaring, around forty-five kilometers north-east of Perth.
Both the Shire of Mundaring and the nearby City of Swan had experienced bushfires in the past. The 2014 Perth Hills bushfire had destroyed fifty-seven homes within the Shire of Mundaring.
The Wooroloo Bushfire would become one of the largest-scale fires to impact the City of Swan in recent memory. Emergency response crews arrived in Wooroloo to find a fast-moving grass and scrub fire, fueled by adverse summer weather; with strong winds and very hot temperatures.
The fire danger rating for the day was severe. The fire rapidly spread west through northern parts of the Perth Hills. While it burned, it left more than two thousand homes without power, and three evacuation centers were opened to provide support to around nine-hundred residents.
The Wooroloo Bushfire also coincided with a snap, five-day lockdown of Perth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting further logistical challenges for residents and emergency response workers both during and after the fire.
Bushfire Emergency warnings were in place for multiple days, including areas within the Shady Hills subdivision in Bullsbrook, the Upper Swan, Aveley, The Vines and Ellenbrook.
On the ground, an estimated 1,750 volunteers and 500 staff were involved in the emergency response, and more than two hundred homes within the fire perimeter were saved.
“I felt helpless as I saw the black smoke engulf the surrounds of my house and neighbouring properties.”
By the time the bushfire was contained on Saturday the 6th of February, it had burned through almost eleven thousand hectares of land, and had an immense 154km perimeter.
There were 80 properties destroyed in the City of Swan and 6 in the Shire of Mundaring. The hardest hit area was Tilden Park in Gidgegannup, which accounted for the majority of the property losses.
