Geraldton surveys a near-miss catastrophe as devastated streets slowly reappear after bushfire contained

As the smoke finally lifts over Geraldton’s northern suburbs, the scale of destruction left behind by the fast-moving bushfire has become starkly visible — a blackened landscape stretching 160 hectares, one home reduced to ash and entire streets rimmed with scorched vegetation and charred fences. The fire, believed to have been deliberately lit, tore out of a river reserve on Sunday afternoon, fanned by 40C heat and winds gusting up to 60-70km/h, pushing an estimated 8km/h across Waggrakine, Moresby, Bluff Point, Spalding and Sunset Beach. DFES’ Brent Allen, who served as incident controller during the height of the emergency, said the fire’s speed and behaviour created “very gusty, very swirly, very dangerous conditions for firefighters”, with flames advancing into backyards and embers showing entire streets. One home was completely destroyed late Sunday afternoon. The owner, Nick Morgan, returned to find the property reduced to ash, telling the ABC: “I’ve lost my home, all my belongings and my cat.” Mr Allen said crews were now “quite confident” the blaze would remain contained after benign overnight conditions allowed firefighters to “tie up the loose ends”. He confirmed the fire reached 100 per cent containment on Tuesday, with about two days of mop-up work still ahead. “We had five crews working to contain any potential for it to run off. We’re now confident we’ve hit 100 per cent contained,” he said. Although one house was lost, fire crews prevented what Mr Allen described as the potential for hundreds of houses to be destroyed. He estimated up to 600 properties were under direct threat during the peak of the inferno. “We’re very happy that we didn’t lose more. There was a potential to lose hundreds of homes in this fire and without the incredible effort of our fire crews, I think there was every chance we would have lost more homes,” he said. Waggrakine Primary School and the Nazareth House aged care facility — both directly in the fire’s path — survived only because crews defended them under intense ember attack. Mr Allen said embers were “flying all around and dropping all around the school and starting small fires in treetops and garden beds”. “Everything around the school was completely burnt and blackened,” he said. “(There was a) significant risk to the school, and the crews did a fantastic job to save it.” The fire continued burning another 600-700 metres beyond the school after it was saved. Mr Allen said they had been in close contact with the Department of Education and the school, which underwent building maintenance and works on Tuesday to guarantee student and staff safety for a possible return to class on Wednesday. Residents armed with garden hoses reported battling spot fires in their yards as embers rained across roads and rooftops. Firefighters worked house-to-house, particularly on Nerrel and Tappak streets and Chapman Valley Road, where the blaze pushed within metres of homes. “It was in people’s backyards,” Mr Allen Allen said. “For the crews on the ground it was just a mad scramble going from door to door… trying to defend individual properties.” He also praised WA Police for their frontline work. “We had police right in the line of fire with no PPE, no training, and they went door-to-door evacuating people. . . massive shout-out to them.,” he said. “Without them, we didn’t have the capacity. We had everything we had already engaged in firefighting.” Beyond the one destroyed home, Mr Allen said damage appeared “contained and quite minimal”, with several sheds and outbuildings affected. Western Power confirmed up to 605 homes were without power at the peak of the incident. This number has now dropped to 17.