ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION
More than 30 homes have been destroyed by a bushfire in the Margaret River region of Western Australia after a prescribed burn by the Department of Environment and Conservation went out of control on Wednesday (November 23), local media said.
About 400 fire-fighters have been battling the blaze overnight to try and contain the fire. Some local residents sought refuge in community centres and others were forced to spend the night sleeping on the beach as flames reached sand dunes nearby.
Schools and some main roads have been closed in the area around the bushfire and 4,000 hectares of forest have also been destroyed.
Authorities are hoping that predicted cooler temperatures and light rains will help extinguish the fires.
