According to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services of Western Australia, a bushfire ADVICE remains for people travelling along Great Northern Highway approximately 20 kilometres east of Broome, and Cape Leveque Road approximately 40 kilometres north of Broome, in the Shire of Broome. There is no threat to lives or homes but there is a lot of smoke in the area. There is a complex of fires burning in the area on both sides of Great Northern Highway, near the Roebuck Roadhouse. The fires are also burning on the eastern side of Cape Leveque road, north of the Broome Highway and are moving fast in a westerly direction. They are out of control and unpredictable. Firefighters are expecting easterly winds to continue in the area.
Firefighters from DFES, the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service and the Bush Fire Service are on the scene. Firefighters are actively fighting the fires and protecting Cape Leveque Road. These fires have been burning for several days and have consumed over 700,000 hectares (1,729,737 acres). The cause of the fires is unknown.
This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on August 24, 2014. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS's thermal bands, are outlined in red.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner with information from DFES.gov.au