Nineteen-year-old man charged over out-of-control bushfire east of Perth

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Western Australia police have charged a 19-year-old man over a bushfire in Perth’s eastern suburbs, that's been downgraded to a watch and act. An emergency warning had been in place for the out-of-control fire east of Perth airport earlier today.

Transcript

00:00I'm here in Kalamunda just east of Perth where the fire has been downgraded to a watch and act.

00:10A lot of crews still remain in the area and the fire is contained but not controlled at this

00:18stage. There are some concerns throughout the day with weather conditions as it's quite warm in the

00:26area 36 max here in Kalamunda and wind changes are expected later this afternoon. As you could

00:34probably hear above me there is monitoring from the air through a helicopter as well that does

00:40mapping and it speaks to those ground crew trying to maintain their control over that fire and the

00:47blaze. The fire started at 12 30 this morning and it's alleged that a 19 year old started the fire

00:55or ignited with illegal fireworks. He has been arrested by police and is assisting them with

01:03their inquiries and he is due to appear before court today. And D-Fez mentioned they'll be holding a

01:11community meeting later this afternoon to provide the public with an update on what's happening with

01:19the fire and if it is safe to return home. If we've got a 100% understanding of what damage is

01:26to property we will discuss that but we generally prefer to talk to landowners directly that have

01:32been impacted by damage rather than at a community meeting. We've still got power out to approximately

01:38800. It may have been reduced but there is still some power outages and power poles down. D-Fez has

01:44confirmed that crews will remain in the area throughout the day and even into the evening to ensure that

01:51they monitor those conditions very closely and stay on top of this fire.

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