At least one home has been lost in a bushfire which descended on the Western Australian town of Katanning yesterday, ripping through 4,500 hectares of farmland and scrub.
About 300 people stayed in an evacuation centre in town last night as an emergency warning was in place.Adrian Richardson runs the co-op in Katanning and helped fight the blaze with the local volunteers."It was even worse on Saturday because the wind got up and it just wasn't going to be held anywhere," Mr Richardson said.
"It took off and virtually surrounded Katanning, when you're behind it and all you can see is a huge ball of smoke and a red glow that's heading straight for the town, you begin to wonder what you are going to find when you get to the other end of it. "Luckily, it's only got to the edge of the town and gone around it, more so than straight through it."
Mr Richardson also said the local supermarket had lost power and a lot of food had spoiled, so he opened his co-op on Sunday to make sure people had access to fresh food."We've also sent out several pallet-loads of water and supplies for the emergency service people still working on the fire and a lot of the town was evacuated and they need to be fed, so we've had emergency services in here picking up drinks and stuff for them.
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