Walpole fire burns through 12,000ha as arson squad still investigating

Arson detectives are still investigating a suspicious fire that has burned 12,000ha of bushland in the Walpole Wilderness Area and is expected to burn through more.

At a community meeting in Denmark, Walpole officer in charge Steve Page said the police became involved early when it was found that several fires were sparked in the early hours of Thursday morning near Nornalup, Middle, and Boronia roads.

“It was suspicious. We got involved very early on in the piece and handed it over to the Albany detectives who have taken it onboard in conjunction with arson squad,” he said.

“Inquiries are happening at the moment but what I do ask is for any little bit of information that we can put together. We want to catch who has done this.”

DBCA incident controller Allison Donovan said it was a farmer who first alerted firefighters to one of the fires before more ignition points were found.

There were 85 firefighters as well as multiple fixed-wing bombers fighting the blaze on Saturday.

She said firefighting crews had done a “fantastic job” over the last three nights to contain the fire.

“At 6am we managed to have all the edges tracked, which means the area is now contained but not controlled. That’s our focus for today to ensure we keep it within that boundary,” she said.

“We are very lucky to have very minimal impacts, if any, on private property.”

The inferno has already eviscerated 12,000ha of the Walpole Wilderness Area, which is expected to increase to 14,000ha.

The fire was downgraded to a watch and act on Friday night but Ms Donovan urged residents to remain vigilant as the blaze is not fully under control.

Ms Donovan also urged people to not use their drones after a drone threatened to derail firefighting efforts on Friday.

“I know people love their drones but they have a big impact and cause a very significant safety issue to our aircraft and it actually puts a stop to aircraft operations,” she said.

It was downgraded further just before 8pm on Saturday night

The evacuation centre is now closed after a couple of people stayed overnight.

The latest warning at 8pm said there was a bushfire advice in place for people bounded by Mount Frankland, Bridge, Hazelvale, Trent, Valley of The Giants, and Middle roads, and Soho Block and Collis Block to the north and east.

A number of roads are still closed including Mount Frankland, Caldyanup, Middle, Boronia, Trent, Collis, and Hoots roads, and access to the Valley of the Giants is shut.

Mount Frankland Road and access to the Valley of the Giants are expected to reopen at 9am on Sunday.