{"id":465837,"date":"2026-02-08T05:45:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465837\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T05:45:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:45:21","slug":"authorities-forced-to-evacuate-oblivious-bush-doof-ravers-during-bushfire-near-margaret-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465837\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities forced to evacuate ‘oblivious’ bush doof ravers during bushfire near Margaret River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Illegal raves in national parks throughout Western Australia’s South West are creating an unacceptable fire risk that leaves both partygoers and locals in danger, authorities say.<\/p>\n

The most recent bush doof was reported at Redgate, 280 kilometres south of Perth, on Wednesday afternoon, with hundreds of partygoers reportedly in attendance.<\/p>\n

At the same time, local brigades were fighting an emergency bushfire just 11 kilometres away.<\/p>\n

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) said the revellers were “completely oblivious” to the danger posed by the fire.<\/p>\n

“DBCA staff and resources had to be diverted from the bushfire to go and investigate the bush doof and evacuate the people,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“Cars were backed up and blocking access to and from the party area.”<\/p>\n

‘The perfect storm’<\/p>\n

Redgate resident Terry Stanley has witnessed multiple illegal raves near his home over his 40 years in the coastal community.<\/p>\n

He said the dangers of the raves in remote bushland, coupled with the fire risk, were a “perfect storm”.<\/p>\n

\"Electrical<\/p>\n

Audio and electrical equipment was found scattered after a recent bush doof. (Supplied: DBCA)<\/p>\n

“I’m all peace, love and brown rice, and I think a lot of the people are in this area, but you’ve got to be realistic,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s all fun and games until it’s not and things get out of hand \u2026 especially with fire involved and people in a very confined little spot.<\/p>\n

“It can turn into a catastrophe.”<\/p>\n

Mr Stanley said Wednesday’s bush doof was held in a small clearing at the end of a long, narrow, sandy track which would make evacuating difficult.<\/p>\n

“It’s surrounded on three sides by very spiky, dry, almost impenetrable coastal heath,” he said.<\/p>\n

“On the fourth side, which is the ocean side, if you wanted to escape down to the beach \u2026 you’d actually have to drop down a limestone cliff.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Terry Stanley says a bushfire in 2021 showed him just how fast-moving a blaze can be. (Supplied: Terry Stanley)<\/p>\n

The rave organisers were fined $1,200, according to DBCA.<\/p>\n

Mr Stanley said current penalties were not enough to deter revellers.<\/p>\n

“If you’re going to give someone a fine, and they’re going to be out of the country in two months or three months, they’re not going to pay that fine, they’ll just leave,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People just throw it on the ground because who cares?”<\/p>\n

Partygoers ‘oblivious’ to dangers<\/p>\n

Parks and Wildlife senior ranger Naz Graue was tasked with responding to the rave.<\/p>\n

\"dancers<\/p>\n

Bush doofs held in WA’s South West have caused fire safety concerns. (File photo) (ABC Wimmera: Angus Mackintosh)<\/p>\n

“There were hundreds of cars parked on both sides of the road and then down the sandy track, which was difficult to drive down,” Ms Graue said.<\/p>\n

“There’s no way we’d have got a fire truck in there if we needed to.<\/p>\n

“It amazes me how people are oblivious to the danger that they’re putting themselves in.”<\/p>\n

\"Electrical<\/p>\n

Electrical equipment left at a disbanded bush doof earlier this month. (Supplied: DBCA)<\/p>\n

A lack of fire safety consideration from organisers was putting partygoers at risk, she said.<\/p>\n

“They just don’t seem to understand that our landscape is very volatile to fire and how quickly fire can move through the landscape.<\/p>\n

“There’s just no way to get out, that they’ll be trapped in there.”\"Electrical<\/p>\n

Authorities say unsanctioned raves in nature reserves create an unacceptable fire risk. (Supplied: DBCA)<\/p>\n

Ms Graue said critical resources were directed away from a nearby fire to help manage partygoers.<\/p>\n

“It was still in a dangerous situation where we needed those resources to help out to protect the properties that were under threat at the time,” she said.<\/p>\n

DBCA has urged anyone to report suspicious activity in national parks and state forests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Illegal raves in national parks throughout Western Australia’s South West are creating an unacceptable fire risk that leaves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,64377,183895,65384,238334,200615,238336,238337,44,238335,41844,45,238338],"class_list":["post-465837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bush-doof","tag-fire-risk","tag-forest","tag-illegal-party","tag-margaret-river-fire","tag-margs-bush-doof","tag-margs-rave","tag-news","tag-redgate-beach","tag-south-west-news","tag-wa-news","tag-witchcliffe-fire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}