West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has promised an investigation into a fire started to reduce the threat of summer outbreaks but which late yesterday continued to ravage the Margaret River area, destroying about 20 homes and cottages.
The fire, which forced the evacuation of hundreds of people, flared suddenly on Wednesday afternoon and was driven through 1800ha of forest and farmland by hot, dry winds and high temperatures.
At Denmark, near Albany on the southern tip of WA, another prescribed burn yesterday broke its barriers as northerly winds hit the area.
And late yesterday another fire threatened homes in the southeastern Perth suburb of Gosnells, with further outbreaks near Geraldton, north of Perth, and Carnarvon in the far north of WA.