WA residents are being urged to prepare properties now for 2024 bushfire season

West Australians are being warned to prepare their properties now as another potentially “tough and challenging” bushfire season looms.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services is urging homeowners — particularly those on semi-rural properties — to carry out bushfire mitigation, such as managing fuel loads and firebreak maintenance while conditions are ideal.

Authorities have warned the window for planned burning could close early this year due to warmer-than-usual conditions.

West Australian Bushfire Centre of Excellence chief superintendent John Tillman said early spring was the best time to conduct planned burns on small properties.

“Coming out of winter presents the best time to undertake planned burning on your property, because the fuels are wet through the winter months, and then as they start to dry coming into spring,” he said.

“That presents a great opportunity to manage the fuels through planned burning before they become too dry coming into the summer period.

“The temperatures we have now are ideal for undertaking planned burning.”

Supt. Tillman added: “We had a very dry summer last year, as everyone knows, an extended dry period right through into late autumn, then fortunately, some good rains into winter, but now we’re starting to see it dry quite quickly again now.”

“So what we could see is a prolonged dry period again coming into summer,” he said.

“So certainly, while it’s cool, we want to encourage people to take the opportunity to manage those fuels on their property before it gets too dry.”

Supt. Tillman said the 2024 bushfire season was expected to kick off by mid to late October, with the potential for it to be a challenging few months.

He said properly preparing for a blaze could mean the difference between losing or saving a home.

Last year was a particularly perilous bushfire season, with homes lost in blazes in Parkerville and in the Wanneroo area.

“It certainly has the potential, given the nature of last summer — we had the driest summer on record — and in many areas, we still below average rainfall for the year, so if it does dry out earlier, then there is the potential to be a tough (and) challenging summer again,” Supt Tillman said.

“We know bushfires occur every summer, and we can’t be at every property when a fire does occur, so the more you do to manage fuels and prepare your property and make sure you have a bushfire plan, it puts you in a much better place when bushfires do occur.”

Kalamunda residents Mark and Carol Jackson have started preparing their property for a potential bushfire.

“It’s absolutely essential to get the fuel load around your house down to the point where things are not going to go so fast that you can’t manage them,” Mr Jackson said.

Ms Jackson said it was vital that property owners understand that undertaking bushfire prevention strategies is their responsibility.

“It’s your responsibility. That’s our house, that’s our property, that’s our responsibility,” she said.

“It’s fantastic that the fire brigade would come in and help us if we had a bushfire, but the buck stops at us.

“We need to be the people that are taking care of it. And if you take care of it in small parts and do small bits of burning, you’re not damaging your ecology or your wildlife.”