Add Category
WA's bushfire-hit farmers return home
Farmers are returning to their homes after devastating bushfires raced through areas near Esperance in Western Australia's south, but some have already discovered there's nothing left.
The lightning-sparked fire at Grass Patch, Salmon Gums and Scaddan was declared an emergency on Tuesday, but firefighters gained the upper hand on Friday, containing the blaze and lowering the alert level to an advice.
The fire was estimated to have been moving at an astonishing 25-30km/h when it caught up with Scaddan farmer Kym Brett Curnow, 45, who was hailed as a hero for saving several people from driving into the inferno before becoming trapped himself.
Police named the three other victims on Friday, but added that formal identification was yet to occur, although they had made contact with all four families.
Norwegian national Anna Sashohova Winther, 29, British man Thomas Leslie Butcher, 31, and German woman Julia Kohrs-Lichte, 19, were also trying to outrun the fire.
All three were working as farm hands and were trying to save a beloved chestnut horse named Cougar, owned by Mr Butcher's girlfriend Leila Vadnjal.
Their truck and horse float was found tipped over and burnt out.
Ms Winther was a human rights graduate who had only moved to Esperance last month.
Curtin University, where she studied and had been a teaching support officer, said she had a generous nature and was committed to protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning (LGBTQI) people.
"She brought a high degree of intelligence, elegance and passion in everything she did," the university said.
Amnesty International said Ms Winther was a "passionate warrior" as a member of their LGBTQI action group, which will wear black armbands at Saturday's Pride Parade in Perth.
"Anna was a beautiful dynamic person who was intent on a future where the rights of her community would be recognised and the loss of her life is a true loss to the movement," they wrote.
Mr Butcher, originally from Sheffield in England, had lived around Australia including in Queensland before moving to Esperance, where he loved to ride Cougar.
Ms Vadnjal posted on Tuesday: "RIP to the people who have lost their lives. Such devastating news... Still no news from Tom and no idea where Coug is".
On Thursday, she learned the awful news.
"The day I met you I told you that we were soulmates," she wrote.
"You were my life.
"I will remember and cherish our last kiss and touch and the way you would tell me "in a bit" as your way of saying bye.
"Have fun with Coug in heaven. I love you, I miss you."
The deaths have left locals who have lost all of their belongings thankful to be alive.
One of them is 77-year-old Scaddan farmer Warren Liebeck, who says his home has been reduced to a "pile of rubble ... covered in burnt sheets of tin".
"It's a bit hard to take but we're pretty strong people - we can handle it," he told AAP.