The massive bushfire was thought to have started in a house in Worooloo amid soaring temperatures on the Monday afternoon.

Strong easterly winds caused it to race quickly out of control across hundreds of square kilometres of farms and densely vegetated bush towards other Hills communities near Perth.

“It was dark when we got to Gidgegannup and the fire had already crossed Toodyay Road,” one Toodyay volunteer firefighter said.

“The fire was travelling at great speed through big trees and the heat was intense.

“It was burning all around us as far as we could see and showering the tavern with hot embers that were blowing everywhere.

“It was very scary and very dangerous with poor visibility and lots of fallen power lines.

“We were able to supply water from our Toodyay tanker up to guys from another brigade working a hose on the roof to defend it from burning embers.

“We were also able to stop the fire in a lot of dense vegetation behind the tavern (pictured above) to prevent it reaching the building.

“By the time we’d finished, whole area looked like a moonscape”.

81 homes lost

A Morangup firefighter who was called to look for trapped residents in the nearby Tilden Park residential subdivision in east Gidgegannup said the whole area looked like it had been hit by a firestorm.

“The fire went through it like a razor blade – everything is gone,” he said.

“Lots of million-dollar houses – even those surrounded by cleared spaces – were razed to the ground.

“The fire took out everything in its path.

“There was no way anybody could have survived.

“I’ve attended lots of bushfires but have never seen anything like this before.

“We searched from house to house because we didn’t know if anybody had been left behind but didn’t find anybody.

“There wasn’t any time to try to save homes.

“We stopped to help one bloke who stayed to defend his house but had to leave as soon as the immediate danger had passed to look for others.

“The worst part for me was seeing all the dead and dying animals – including kangaroos – lying all over the roads.

“It was devastating.

“At night everything you could possibly see was burning.

“We got there at 5.30pm on the Monday and left at 5.30am next day to let others take over.”

Toodyay Chief Bush Fire Control Officer Craig Stewart said all local volunteer brigades were working shifts to provide round-the-clock support for volunteer firefighters from other brigades.

“Toodyay crews have been deployed to all parts of the fireground, including from Walyunga National Park to the other side of the Great Northern Highway.

“We’ve seen a lot of burnt-out homes.

“This fire is catastrophic.

“The wild card is possible changes in wind direction caused by a degrading North-West cyclone that’s travelling down the coast towards us.

“It may turn the Hills fire around and cause it to go into the back of Gidgie.

“Fire crews are working to create containment lines and consolidate positions but some areas of the densely vegetated terrain lack roads and is too steep for fire trucks to access.”

As The Herald went to press on Thursday February 4, the WA Department of Fire and Emergency services reported that at least 81 homes had been destroyed and more than 700 residents moved to emergency evacuation centres.

Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said the final cost of building the new sport and recreation centre was being assessed by a quantity surveyor and would be provided to the council at a later date.

Cr McKeown said his reading of the shire’s November accounts was that “we’ve actually spent $600,000 more than we budgeted for”.

Construction of the new sports and recreation centre was funded by a short-term interest-only loan which is due to expire on March 23 when repayment of the full $4.5 million debt falls due.

Cr McKeown opposed replacing it with a new 20-year loan to pay off the whole amount over the next 20 years.

Shire Deputy President Beth Ruthven said the new loan was planned with a tentative interest rate of four per cent, which Ms Haslehurst said had yet to be negotiated with the State Treasury.

Cr McKeown said that even with a zero per cent interest, the new loan would cost the shire at least $54,000 over the next three months instead of $8750 in interest-only repayments under the current loan.

“There is no long-term loan mentioned in the shire’s long-term financial plan, and it’s not in the budget for this financial year,” Cr McKeown said.

“We’ve just seen the figures for November and we don’t know the final situation following rec centre capital allocations.

“I don’t know yet what we have to do to get these books balanced because we haven’t yet done a mid-year budget review.

“By converting to a long-term loan now – when we have to put bread and butter on the table – we will actually be monetarily worse off.

“It will reduce the cash flow to the shire over the next three months.

“We’re not going to pay off this loan for 20 years so if it lasts an extra three months in 2041 I’m prepared to wear that to get this year’s books balanced.

“Maybe we do have to extend the short-term loan until June but let’s make an informed decision after the budget review instead of an ad-hoc decision that doesn’t conform to the current budget.

“In two meetings from now we can make a soundly based assessment of what we should do,” Cr McKeown said.

Councillors voted 2-4 to reject the proposed new $4.5 million long-term loan and agreed 6-0 instead to defer a decision until after next month’s mid-year budget review.

The council also agreed to seek State Treasury approval to extend the current interest-free loan until June 30.

Ms Haslehurst said later that the actual cost of building the new sports and recreation centre was still being assessed, and that first-year operating costs were also still being assessed.

An $8000 weekly water bill to establish the new grassed playing field and gardens had been lowered by reducing watering to twice a week.

Toodyay Road was rated by the WA RAC in 2017 as the state’s fourth most dangerous regional road for fatal and serious traffic accidents in 2017.

It blamed tight curves, blind crests, the lack of safe places to overtake and narrow road lanes and bridges.

In one recent serious accident (see Police Beat, Page 6), a Toyota Hilux ute was wrecked when it rolled and slammed sideways into a tree near Jingaling Brook Road, about 100m west of where the new roadworks begin.

The work pictured above includes widening a large stretch of Toodyay Road and installing a new centre line with a one-metre gap to separate vehicles travelling in opposite directions.

Main Roads WA says this, combined with new audible line markers, will reduce the risk of head-on crashes and give motorists time to recover if they stray into the opposite lane.

Bends will also be wider and straighter.

The work is similar to a two-kilometre stretch of Toodyay Road that was widened last year between Clackline Road and the Northam Toodyay Road.

The current roadworks are scheduled to be completed in May.

Work has also begun on acquiring private land and clearing roadside vegetation to build new Toodyay Road turn-off lanes at Sandplain Road and Racecourse Road.

Temporary traffic lights had been installed to manage traffic.

However, Main Roads WA said funds had yet to be allocated to complete this part of the project, which would be included in future upgrades.

The latest roadworks are part of a plan to upgrade Toodyay Road between Dryandra Road and the Goomalling Road turn-off.

New passing and heavy vehicle climbing lanes would also be built near the intersections of Sandplain Road and Salt Valley Road, and a passing lane and intersection improvements built at Fernie Road, which is used frequently by heavy trucks.

Main Roads WA says Toodyay Road is a strategic transport corrider.

The upgrade is part of a ‘Perth and Peel@3.5 million’ long-term growth strategy contained in the State Government’s Metropolitan Region Scheme.

Residents in Perth, Peel and South-West were ordered to stay home or wear face masks if they had go out in public for essential reasons such as to shop for food.

A smaLL number of people in Toodyay also began wearing Covid-19 face masks in public as a health precaution.

Stirling Terrace was noticeably quieter with fewer cars in the street and local cafes were largely empty except for a small number of regular local customers.

No new Covid-19 infections were recorded in Perth after three days of lockdown and at the time of going to press WA Premier Mark McGowan, said the week-long restrictions would most likely end on Friday February 5.

Managing Director Alex Dorsch told the ASX that buying the land was “an important milestone and significant step for the potential development of a future mining operation”.

The farms cover a total of nearly 1000ha in the Keating Road area – about 30km west of the Toodyay townsite – where Chalice has drilled 200 holes for nickel, copper cobalt and Platinum Group Elements (PGEs).

Rarer than gold

PGEs include palladium which is 30 times rarer than gold and worth 40 per cent more.
Palladium is a key green energy ingredient in hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels.

It is also widely used in catalytic converters to cut vehicle emissions in petrol engines.
An acute shortage of the precious metal drove world prices to record highs this year and stood last month at $3100 an ounce.

Other clean energy metals found at Julimar – platinum, nickel, copper and cobalt – are also “critical metals for electric vehicles and other energy storage applications”.

Perth-based Chalice – now valued at more than $1.1 billion since its initial Julimar discovery in March – says nickel, copper, cobalt and PGEs are extremely rare.
The combination of metals discovered at Julimar is “unique for Australia”.

“The suite of metals is considered critical and, in some cases, strategically important for the transition of the energy and transport sectors from fossil fuels and internal combustion engines to renewable resources in electric, hydrogen and hybrid fuel cell vehicles,” a Chalice spokesperson said.

Mr Dorsch last month described the latest drilling results as “exceptional”, saying “it is clear that Julimar is emerging as a globally significant deposit of critical metals in Western Australia”.

He told The Herald in April that the Julimar ore body could be a “sizeable deposit of hundreds of millions of tonnes”.

The ‘Gonneville’ discovery – named after a French geologist who helped peg the original Chalice claim – extends north into the Julimar State Forest where the company is seeking State Government approval to start low-impact soil sampling.

Julimar forest

Aerial surveys suggest Julimar State Forest is at least as rich in the same rare precious metals as the Keating Road site.

A Chalice spokesperson said that because the project was at “such an early stage, we do not know how much water would be required” if mining occurs.

“Chalice appreciates how critically important water is to the region and takes its environmental responsibilities seriously,” the spokesperson said.

“Any potential mining activity in Western Australia is strictly governed by mining and environmental laws.”

The company says it expects to know by the middle of next year if a Julimar mine is economically viable.

Chalice currently has about 25-30 staff working in mainly geological and field roles at the Keating Road site.

“As our drilling advances, we are hopeful that these numbers will steadily increase with the company remaining strongly committed to supporting local businesses and the local community wherever possible,” the spokesperson said.

“The Julimar project has the potential to deliver significant jobs, skills and economic diversification to the Wheatbelt region.

“As the project advances, so will our scope to provide employment, jobs and training opportunities and to invest in positive community initiatives.

Chalice donated $5000 to this year’s Toodyay Christmas Street Party after the local chamber of commerce and industry pulled out due to pandemic uncertainty.

“We are committed to being part of the local community by supporting local events, facilities and businesses wherever possible,” Chalice said.