Residents in the town of Boddington, south-east of Perth, have been told to evacuate as firefighters battle a fast-moving bushfire on a hot and gusty Christmas Day.
Meanwhile, several other fires burning across southern WA have caused major blackouts to thousands of homes in popular tourist towns.
Margaret River, Lancelin and Ledge Point are without electricity at the peak of the day’s heat, which has notched up to 43C in some areas.
Boddington, Walpole and Williams are also without power.
The townsite of Boddington has been placed under an emergency warning. (Supplied)
Gold mine under threat
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) upgraded the fire threatening Boddington to an Emergency Warning for the second time in the past 24 hours.
The fire is out of control and moving fast in a south, south easterly direction towards the town site.
Residents have been told to leave in an easterly direction towards Williams if it is safe to do so.
It is burning in a forest between a rural housing estate and an area surrounding the Boddington Gold Mine, but has since burned south across the Hotham River.
A view of the fire from the Boddington town site. (Supplied: Di Johnston)
Most people working at the Newmont-owned mine were evacuated yesterday — escorted out by emergency crews — but a small group remains, and today’s escalation means it is now too late to leave.Â
DFES said mine workers were “providing support with machinery and emergency response teams”.Â
A photo of the fire threatening the Boddington gold mine from the camp site. (Supplied)
Video taken by locals shows the fire, which has been burning for days, intensifying in the early afternoon of Christmas Day.
An evacuation centre has been opened in the town of Williams.
There are 1,135 homes and businesses in Boddington, Williams and the surrounding areas without power.
Several rural properties are now within the emergency warning zone. (Supplied: Stella Gallack)
One worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were still about 300 people at the workers’ camp preparing to evacuate.
“The fire is just over the hill,” they said.
“We’ve still got essential workers here checking rooms — we’ve got about 2,000 rooms to check.
The fire burning near Boddington as seen from the gold mine workers camp. (Supplied)
“It’s mostly smoke at the moment; a lot of people said they could see the fire from the car park. [I’m a] bit worried at the moment, but everyone here’s pretty safe.
“[We’re] just trying to make sure everyone’s out of here so we can leave and go home.”
They said road blockages the night before had hampered the evacuation of some workers for a few hours, but most were out by around 10pm.
The Cowalla bushfire is burning about 100km north of Perth. (ABC News)
A second emergency warning has also been issued for a fire burning north of Perth in the rural locality of Cowalla, in the Shire of Gingin.
That fire has caused blackouts in 2,454 homes and businesses, including the coastal tourist towns of Lancelin and Ledge Point.
Power outage in Margaret River
Meanwhile, another bushfire in WA’s South West has triggered an unplanned power outage that cut electricity to the town of Margaret River, one of WA’s most popular tourist towns.
Western Power’s website says there are currently 4,239 households impacted by the outage and has an estimated restoration time of 5:30pm WST.
It is understood a bushfire burning between Margaret River and Busselton has damaged poles that provide the region with electricity.
That fire is at an advice level and burning in the rural localities of Boallia and Kaloorup.
“Crews are en route to the area and will work closely with DFES to safely access the fireground and assess the damage before we can begin repair and restoration,” Western Power said.
The outage comes as Christmas temperatures soar to almost 40 degrees in the town.
The town of Walpole is also without power, with 672 customers affected by an unplanned outage.
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