Capecare Dunsborough’s management fired up the BBQs at their Naturaliste Terrace facility last Thursday to thank local fire brigades and emergency services personnel.

Capecare CEO Tim Nayton acknowledged both the emergency services personnel for protecting residents and facilities during the recent Dunsborough fires, and also his staff who were working on the day.

Tim was at Capecare Dunsborough at the time of the fires and said, while obviously concerned about what was happening on the reserve across the road from the facility, it was reassuring to see the services in action.

“To watch the emergency services teams and know that there was that level of support was amazing to experience, and to witness the confident way, what became quite a threatening fire, was managed,” Tim said.

The BBQ was attended by DFES Area Officer Andy Thompson, Mayor Phill Cronin, Ben Small, Liberal representative for Forrest and a number of professional and volunteer firefighters, Capecare staff who worked on the day of the fire, and Armstrong Village residents and their families.

Andy Thompson also thanked volunteers and said the incident response ran like clockwork thanks to practical exercises carried out with Capecare.

“To our volunteers, thank you. They’ve had a busy past couple of months, including turning out to Windy Harbour and various other fires.

“The accolades also go out to Capecare staff and management. Thanks to pre-planning and on-site training and evacuation drills carried out last year, it went like clockwork.

“Staff knew we were going to ‘protect in place’, which we had planned. We had the resources here, which the volunteers are trained for, and working with Capecare staff and management was faultless. It couldn’t have gone any better.

“It goes to show the strength of all of us working together in the community and the number of volunteers that we have… Fire, Search and Rescue, SES, St John Ambulance… it was a fantastic response and hats off to everybody.”

Mayor Phill Cronin, who was a volunteer firefighter on the day, reiterated the community response.

“As I’m driving down the road, I see a big billow of smoke in the distance. The radio’s chattering. The sirens are going off. The Dunsborough guys were having a bit of trouble at their own fire station. Then I’m hearing: ‘Capecare, get down there’. We get down to Cape Nat, and there’s smoke everywhere.

“We had 125 firefighters. We had 50 units down there. We had two helicopters. The whole point was how we all came together. The DFES guys, they were protecting the structures, we were doing the bush. There were queues of St John Ambulance people down there. DFES were setting up an incident support group. It was all done professionally. We also had a lot of the City (of Busselton) involved.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t lose any properties. There were no injuries. there was no loss of life.

“Everybody here, you all played a part, you made people feel safe. The Capecare guys were out there as well, getting wet and smoky. but we all did a great job and look, I really want to say thank you. Thank you for this event to recognise this and bring us all together.

“The next thing that we are doing is getting the reserve back to how it was. We instantly go into recovery mode.  One thing we’ve learned is recovery is the quickest thing that we can get on top of rather than leaving it weeks down the line,” Mayor Cronin said.

Tim concluded by praising the amazing community spirit, also demonstrated by the generosity of wineries and breweries approached for the event. Special thanks to Shelter Brewing, Eagle Bay Brewing, Baileys Brewing, Skigh Wines, the  Highbury Project and Cape Cellars.