Hester township open to fire-ravaged residents from Friday

South West fire-ravaged residents will be allowed to return to their homes on Friday after a week locked out of their community over toxic chemical concerns from a scorched treated timber plant.

Forced to evacuate as the out-of-control inferno burnt through nearby farmland on Saturday, Hester residents received the green-light to return during a community meeting on Thursday.

Concern had been based around 600 tonnes of impacted chemically treated logs at the Timber Treaters plant.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services staff told about 60 people present the contaminated copper chrome arsenate ash from wood stock had been “contained and stabilised”.

Addressing the crowd at the Bridgetown Leisure Centre, DFES incident controller Peter Thomas said Western Power and Watercorp would be working to get properties “back up and running”.

He assured residents from Hester they could return to inspect or stay at their houses from Friday morning.

“We have just completed the stabilisation of the CCA ash using the bondcrete at the Timber Treaters, that has all been sealed over so that is a big positive that we have achieved that,” he said.

An exclusion zone of 500m was set up around the timber plant when the chemical issue was first flagged.

Mr Thomas said if people were to return and stay at their property from Friday onward they would still have to follow DFES warnings.

The warnings have included not using any produce from livestock or gardens, not using any water stored in rain tanks, wearing a mask to protect yourself and remaining 500m away from Timber Treaters.

Residents had been also previously told to watch out for symptoms including nausea and diarrhoea.

Mr Thomas said there were also impacted properties containing asbestos within Hester which were being inspected and tested, including the Bridgetown Golf Club clubhouse.

“In regard to asbestos, a couple more sites we are dealing with in the townsite of Hester, one awaiting testing and the other one is being sealed, they will be completed and information will be known by the end of today,” he said.

Residents were warned there would still be no power in Hester until at least Sunday night.

DFES and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation have also announced they will conduct further testing of houses to determine the toxic ash contamination level per residence.

DWER pollution response senior manager Ken Raine said eight properties had already been tested in Hester to determine the necessary decontamination plan and more would be examined in the coming days.

“Each site we looked at separately for how to (clean it). I was talking to the United States today and said to them do you have a plan for this and the answer is no, it is site-specific,” he said.

The 2400ha bushfire ripped through the hills to the north and east of Bridgetown, forcing hundreds to evacuate the townsite.

The Hester area was the hardest hit residential location with one property lost and the Timber Treaters worksite suffering massive damage causing a hazardous material outbreak due to a pile of burnt pine poles.

DFES has also taken the precaution to prevent any spot fires with more warm weather expected over the weekend by dropping 72,000 litres of flame retardant around the burnt land to the north and east of Bridgetown from four air tankers.

DFES Superintendent Phil Brandrett said this was part of the “insurance” program firefighters undertook to try to prevent any further bushfires from breaking out.