Wildfires damage 41 homes in western Australia

Two wildfires tore across Australia’s western state of Perth over the weekend. One fire fighter was injured and several people have been treated for smoke inhalation.

The two blazes have razed 4,000 acres of forested land to the north and southeast of Perth since Saturday. In Roleystone and the nearby community of Kelmscott, over 40 houses were destroyed despite the efforts of 200 fire fighters.

Speaking to the press, Fire and Emergency Services Authority Chief Operations Officer Craig Hynes said that their collaboration with the Bureau f Meteorology had prepared authorities for the weekend’s strong winds that spread the fires.

Authorities report that the Roleystone fire was accidentally started when a man using an electric grinder in his backyard ignited dry grass with sparks.

Further north, the other fire in Swan Valley district began when a tree branch that was blown down by strong winds hit electrical transmission infrastructure. There were no reports of property loss there.

The fires in Australia's far west come as huge areas of the east coast recover from a major cyclone that struck in Queensland state last week and from flooding from rains in Queensland and southern Victoria state.

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