Tales of escape from racing fire front

His day started with an air of caution as the temperature started to climb, so he decided to get prepared just in case.

"I'd woken up and said to the wife I'm going to fill the ute up and I'm going to fill the firefighter choc-a-bloc full of water just in case," Mr Hooper said.

He also decided to fill the telehandler with fuel.

As he was putting it back in the shed, he saw the tractor and remembering his neighbour, who was away, had a grader blade, he called to see if he could use it.

"He said there's an old plough down there that might be better, so I said 'yep no worries thanks, Pete' that's when we went and grabbed the plough, so we had a tractor, a plough, a telehandler and fire unit here."

Although they had enough time to prepare, Mr Hooper didn't believe the fire would head their way.

"It was on the other side of the salt lake on our western side and we thought it won't come over that, we are pretty right," he said.

However the situation quickly changed and Mr Hooper called his wife Michelle to tell her to leave their property, thankfully he did as within 10 minutes the fire had raced over the lake and was at their house.

"It was going in a southerly direction, going west of our house and going south and we thought 'oh it's not too bad' then all of a sudden it changed to a westerly and it blew like a bastard," he said.

"We had this massive front of fire which was almost the full length of our farm just come straight bearing down on our house and sheds."

His wife had left in time, taking with her their son's girlfriend Megan, Mr Hooper's parents-in-law. as well as collecting a couple of elderly neighbours as they fled.

Mr Hooper's son, Matthew however was over helping out at their next door neighbour's place and the fire claimed his ute that he was driving, but thankfully not his life.

"I was in the tractor with a plough and I had to go straight through the boundary fence to get to him before he got bloody burnt," Mr Hooper said.

"After I had picked him up, we sort of missed the house and went a bit north as we were just on the face of the fire."

Coming to a track in the middle of his farm, Mr Hooper headed back to the sheds expecting the worst.

"When I saw our main spray tank was on fire, all the chemicals around the tank were on fire and all the trees at the machinery shed were on fire I thought, 'we've lost all of our machinery, we've lost our house as well, we've lost everything'," he said.

Thankfully his neighbour, Mike Ferrari and the DFES trucks came to his rescue just in time.

As the wind changed direction moving from his neighbour's to his house, it took a while for the firefighters to locate where to go next.

"Trucks were coming over here as it was coming to go to our neighbours to the south of us and then it turned and came straight east through us and left their house," he said.

"There were a few trucks heading there, but you couldn't see anything, so luckily Mike grabbed a couple of the DFES trucks on the road here.

"They said 'we don't know where we are going' and he said 'yep just sit right on my tail, I know where Gavin and Michelle's house is, we'll go see what's happening up there'.

"Mike said as he was coming up my driveway, everything was on fire, he didn't know what he was going to find.

"If it wasn't for him and those other trucks we would've been in a real predicament."

With three to four trucks on the corner of his house, Mr Hooper also laid out some more clear strips with the tractor and plough.

"Even as we were going down the face of the fire with the plough, the flames were jumping over the tractor and plough," he said.

"They were jumping over where we put another break another 100 metres or so out into the paddock, it just slows things down enough so you try and control it, which is all you can do."

This has not been Mr Hooper's first experience of a fire of this nature, but he said it was travelling more quickly than ones he had previously experienced.

"It's also different when it's your own house and sheds," he said.

"We thought the whole lot had gone, all the trees around the house and shed were on fire."

With fuel bowsers next to the shed and a stack of tyres that had already caught fire, they managed to get them out with a loader and push them out to a paddock which had already been burnt.

Knocking down a few trees around the sheds also allowed the DFES crews access to return and dampen the area.

In the end Mr Hooper lost his main spray tank, big water tank, chemicals ready for summer spraying and the ute, but he remains positive and thankful to the crew, knowing that what he lost can be replaced.

He also is extremely thankful for the incredible way the communities have banded together to help out.

"It's amazing, on our farm alone there were fire trucks from Pingelly, Brookton, I think there was one from Muchea, Kulin, Corrigin, Kondinin and then there were local volunteers from all over the place," he said.

"If it wasn't for a good neighbour and all the other blokes who were out here doing it, it could have been a different story.

"We are just going to have a house full of dust for the next six months but that is a small price to pay to have a house really."

The greatest possession Mr Hooper now has is Mike's hat, which was left at the Hoopers' residence.

"He said to me, 'oh you owe me a hat, I said no I've still got it', they say not all heroes wear capes Mike, so obviously some of them wear hats," he said.

"I said to him I might nail your hat up in our workshop."

The Kondinin and Corrigin shire staff were out on Mr Hooper's property on Monday mopping up and putting in firebreaks.

Mr Hooper could not convey his appreciation for his community enough.

"It's a huge effort from the whole community, there are people out there who are supplying food and drink and blokes who are using their gear, people offering agistment," he said.

"There are so many people doing a lot of things just to help out, which is very good."

As the clean up begins so does the reflection, but Mr Hooper is just grateful his loved ones are safe and no one was hurt.

"The younger son said so far 2022 has been an absolute shit of a year and it has, there have been a few things personally for the family that have happened this year too, but it certainly could have been a hell of a lot worse," he said.

"We can always buy another ute or buy some more chemicals and another spray tank but you can't buy another son and it's a lot harder to buy another house."

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