The downpour at the weekend helped contain it
Firefighters control several fires in Western Australian forests
A fireman walks past a kangaroo statue in a woodland caught in Perth
A.F.B.
Firefighters in Western Australia controlled six fires in the southwest of the state that authorities said yesterday were most likely deliberately lit, as the rain helped contain a week-long blaze that destroyed 86 homes in the Perth hills.
The state's Fire and Emergency Services Department said that all of the suspicious fires, which are now being investigated, began around the same time Saturday evening and were close to each other.
The torrential rains over the weekend helped contain those fires, and allowed firefighters to control a devastating fire that struck an area of 27,181 acres of land.
Thousands were forced to flee their homes last week in Perth, which complicated a general isolation imposed on Monday for five days on the state capital, after Western Australia discovered the first infection with the emerging coronavirus in 10 months.
And the media reported that the rains, at the weekend, were the first of their kind in a month in some areas that witnessed fires, which allowed people to obtain permits to return to their homes and know the extent of the damage.
Yesterday, the Met Office said that the rain is expected to continue.
Those rains caused heavy floods in parts of the state.
Although bushfires are common in Australia, last week's fires brought back memories of the fires that swept eastern, southern and western Australia last year, destroying more than 31 million acres, roughly the size of Greece.
The fires destroyed 3,000 homes, and 33 people were killed.
Thousands were forced to flee their homes last week in Perth.
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