Multiple bushfires raged in Esperance region on weekend, with more than 2000ha burned & Eyre Highway shut

Multiple bushfires raged in the Goldfields-Esperance region on Saturday, with one burning through more than 2000ha and prompting an evacuation centre to be opened. About 40 firefighters — some travelling from Kalgoorlie Fire Station — worked to contain one of the blazes near Gibson, north of Esperance. The fire was first reported about 2.25pm, burning through 2400ha before being controlled and contained by fire crews. Those in the area were urged to leave, with an evacuation centre temporarily set up at Graham Mackenzie Stadium at the Greater Sports Ground in Esperance. The same day firefighters were flown in to battle a bushfire that closed Eyre Highway following a serious road train crash near the WA border. The major route was temporarily closed in both directions between Mundrabilla Roadhouse and Madura Pass, with motorists told to avoid the area. Elsewhere in WA, hundreds of fireys worked during the weekend to carry out backburning and to monitor the fire around Cervantes. The blaze burned an area spanning 81,631ha from north of Cervantes to south of Wedge Island before it was controlled.