Wongan Hills bushfire: Residents of Wheatbelt town told to evacuate now

Parts of the Wongan Hills townsite are being told to evacuate as fire threatens the small Wheatbelt town.

People in the area bound by Wandoo Crescent to the south, Hospital Road to the east, Commercial Road to the west and south of the Airport strip in parts of the townsite have been told to evacuate now if it’s safe to do so.

Firefighters are on the scene, battling the ferocious blaze which began at the intersection of Northam-Pithara and Craig roads just before 1pm.

It is moving fast in a south-easterly direction and remains out of control and unpredictable.

People are advised to leave towards the south.

“Do not wait and see, leaving at the last minute could put your life in danger,” the warning said.

The rest of the townsite is on watch and act advice, in the area bound by Manmanning Road to the east, Craig Road to Hospital Road in the north, Foulkes Road and Serio Road to the west and Goodie Road to the south.

Scorching conditions coupled with possible storms in the area are likely to make firefighting efforts difficult.

Separate severe storm warnings in the Wheatbelt and surrounding regions also threaten to hinder firefighting efforts, with the Perth metropolitan area, the Midwest-Gascoyne and Goldfields-Midlands areas all expecting severe thunderstorms.

“If you live in Gascoyne, Lower West, Great Southern, Central Wheat Belt, Central West and South West districts you should take action and stay safe with severe thunderstorms to come,” the latest storm warning said.

“Locations which may be affected include Merredin, Northam, Dowerin, Paynes Find, Pingelly and Wongan Hills.”

The temperature remains over 40C in Wongan Hills, recording 43.5C at its highest just before 1pm.

Wind gusts up to 52km/h were recorded about 1.30pm.

Wongan Hills’ population was just 896 at the last census, with 492 homes.

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