Scenes from the potting shed fire in Carabooda.
Camera IconScenes from the potting shed fire in Carabooda. Credit: Supplied/Supplied, Lucy Jarvis

Crews out in force

Lucy Jarvis, North Coast TimesNorth Coast Times

Fire services received a report of the fire at a potting shed at Benara Nurseries on Safari Place about 12.30pm on December 1, and had it under control by 1.40pm.

A Department of Fire and Emergency Services spokesman said career and volunteer fire crews from a dozen stations attended, many to supply water.

‘There was quite an array of machines and personnel there,’ the spokesman said.

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‘It was a combination of bush fire brigades, and fire and rescue volunteers and career firefighters ” a lot of those appliances would have been big water tankers.’

He said there was lots of black smoke and it took several hours to dampen down the area afterwards.

Investigators could not determine the cause of the fire, which resulted in $1.8 million damage to a 30m x 20m shed that contained a mix of items, including tyres and gas cylinders.

Career and volunteer crews were called in from Bullsbrook, Butler, Ellenbrook, Joondalup, Osborne Park and Yanchep.

Volunteer bush fire brigades from Gidgegannup, Quinns Rocks, Two Rocks and Wanneroo also attended, as did the Department of Parks and Wildlife’s Swan coastal plain fire crew.

Community last month published a warning from the Water Corporation, saying people living in or near bushland should not rely on municipal water supplies during bushfires.

‘We will always do all we possibly can to maintain supply, but achieving that should be a bonus for property protection efforts rather than something that is to be relied upon,’ the utility’s Perth regional manager Steve Dorricott said.