Property owners left devastated by bushfires have had massive asbestos clean-up bills added to their heartache, prompting a warning for others in rural towns.
"Moisture gets trapped in asbestos sheets and in a fire it heats up very, very quickly and shatters," she said.
"If there's minimal damage, people may be able to go back in to retrieve items but you will have to work with the emergency response people," she said.Ms Hardingham said asbestos was extremely common across her region. However, even if it was, she said they would need a loan to pay the bill after having already lost "in excess of $1.5 million" across the farm, only a third of which was recovered through insurance.Corrigin Shire chief executive Natalie Manton said the council had sought disaster recovery funding from the WA state government but local farmers did not meet the criteria.
"Of the affected land owners, all have made progress on the asbestos removal and some are almost at the point of full remediation," she said. "At WA Health we're really trying to raise awareness to prioritise the removal of asbestos [before it is damaged]," Ms Otness said.
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