Wildfires

Wildfires - Australia

A fire that started in Lower Hotham about 180km south of Perth, in the Shire of Boddington, is now threatening nearby Quindanning.

The out of control blaze has become intense and is quickly moving east, authorities say. It is burning in forest on both sides of the Murray and Hotham rivers.

It was confirmed on Thursday one home had been lost in the area.

Residents in the tiny Western Australian town of Windy Harbour were evacuated to the beach as a bushfire that has been burning in the state’s south-west for six days threatened the town.

They may have to be rescued by boat, emergency authorities said.

Bushfires burning south of Perth have destroyed two houses and three sheds, and firefighters near Northcliffe have been putting in 30-hour shifts.

The Northcliffe fire was finally quelled by favourable weather, water bombing and the mammoth efforts of hundreds of firefighters.