Former shire president of Waroona looks back on fires which once threatened his home town of Preston Beach

Once the fire had ripped through Yarloop in 2016, its relentless approach soon threatened the town of Preston Beach, with residents forced to evacuate to the sand as the flames drew near. A long-time resident of the coastal hamlet, and the Waroona shire president at the time of the disaster, Noel Dew said the memory of the inferno still sat vividly in his mind. It was at 3am on January 7 that Preston Beach residents were told to evacuate, with Mr Dew going door to door to wake his neighbours as the fire grew closer. With one road in and out of Preston Beach, some left on the road early, while others boarded boats from Bunbury and Mandurah to escape. “Many chose not to,” Mr Dew said. “I think the thing that came out of that later on was the fact that people didn’t really understand the potential of what could happen in a fire. “They thought they could ride it out — turned out that was not a good decision. “That day on, I know I would strongly recommend people, if they ever were given an opportunity to get out or go, don’t stay.” As the day progressed, conditions changed and many were given the all-clear to return home — soon to learn the battle had only just begun. About 8.30pm Mr Dew received a call from then-police sergeant Jeff Taylor telling him the fire had crossed the highway, and the the town needed to evacuate. But with the fire across the highway and burning into the national park, there was no escape. For the second time in less than 24 hours, Mr Dew was knocking on doors getting those still in town down to the beach. “As we drove down the road towards the beach, there were cars parked up on either side, the whole carpark was full,” he said. “They brought in what they call the ‘red trucks’, the big metropolitan firefighting trucks. “They were just stationed there, and that was their role, to look after everyone.” With 4WDs heading on to the beach, Mr Dew did the same after he could do no more to help. Looking to the east of the beach, the former shire president described the vision as surreal. “It was a horrible, horrible sight,” he said. “It was just bright red and there were big black plumes coming up, and you could even hear little explosions.” Thick smoke made it difficult to see, but Mr Dew said it was an unpleasant and frightening evening for those on the beach. By morning the all-clear order was delivered once more, and residents returned home, thankful the fire had been kept from town — but, the ordeal was far from over. “We had no power,” Mr Dew said. “’It was extremely hot, it was oppressive with the heat, and the smoke was still fairly horrendous.” Without any reprieve the danger of the blaze, now coming from the north-east, returned once more. “We had to evacuate again down on the beach, and hadn’t been down there long and out of nowhere, the most incredible thing happened,” Mr Dew said. “This massive storm front came through. It was heavy rain but it also had unbelievably heavy lightning. “It helped in one respect that it helped put that fire out down there, but we had all those people parked up along the beach and we had lightning strikes hitting the water all the way down the beach.” The lightning soon became more dangerous than the fire, and Mr Dew was told to get everyone off the beach. Returning to their homes for the third time, residents were now trapped in the small coastal town without power and unable to leave, with the one exit road still a fire threat. With food going off, and no one able to get in or out of town, supplies had to be delivered by other means, including by air. Just under a week after the fire drew near, Mr Dew and the rest of the community were finally allowed to leave the township. “We could only go in convoy and under escort,” he said. “Driving out of town was a scene of absolute devastation — the Yalgorup National Park was just ashes.” Driving through with wife Irene, Mr Dew said he was just shattered to see the park he loved destroyed. One thing he said he could never get out of his head was knowing the park was full of wildlife which would not have survived. Looking back on the terrifying ordeal 10 years later, Mr Dew said the fire brought out the best in people. “This fire was a horrendous and tragic event that severely impacted the lives of so many in this region,” he said. “Embedded in this story are many examples of compassion, care, generosity and bravery that highlighted the incredible resilience of the communities of the Harvey Waroona shires. “Here in Preston Beach, we were threatened, we were challenged and impacted. “People at Preston Beach who were here, I think will always harbour their own memories of this event.”