Manjimup-Bridgetown residents urged to prepare now for bushfire seasonMadelin HayesManjimup-Bridgetown TimesMon, 20 October 2025 3:38PM
With the bushfire season fast approaching, emergency services are urging residents across the South West to act now to ensure they are prepared for the high-risk months ahead.
Local brigades have spent the past few months training and preparing for what could be another challenging bushfire season.
DFES Lower South West Region Superintendent Phil Brandrett said responsibility now lies with property owners.
“We ran a state bushfire exercise with multiple local governments across the lower South West, including all brigade chiefs who were invited to Manjimup on September 11 and we ran a state exercise simultaneously in two locations to prepare for this year,” he said.
“Ninety per cent of the state is bushfire prone, so if you own a property, you own the risk, and you need to do something in preparedness, have a plan.
“It’s important to monitor the conditions, ensuring you’ve got a plan and utilise the My Bushfire Plan process through the DFES website, or use the app to reinstate or update a plan, there’s no point in getting prepared on the day.”
Supt Brandrett also urged families to talk openly about their plans, particularly if they intend to stay and defend their properties.
“We’ve experienced that before. We had a series of fires from lightning strikes years ago in the Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup and people chose to stay and defend,” he said.
“Sometimes we make these decisions in our plans to stay and defend, and we haven’t experienced the emotional trauma and probably even considered the other members and loved ones in our cohort that are going to stay and defend with us and to have those conversations, because it’s a serious decision to make, you need to be prepared.
“You need to be prepared to be isolated for five days, because if roads get cut off and either you can’t get out or get in, then you need to be self-sufficient for five days.”
For more information on how to prepare your bushfire plan, head to http://www.dfes.wa.gov.au/hazard-information/bushfire/prepare.
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