THERE is no question the human cost of the bushfire that devastated Waroona and Yarloop will be felt by locals for years to come.
But for the fragile communities already struggling with few job opportunities, the economic strain caused by the disaster is like insult added to injury.
Mick and Helen Muir, Waroona farmers in their seventies, reckon they have lost just about everything on their 1000 hectare property.
“Our shed went down with the hay in it and we've lost all our pasture,” Mr Muir said.
“We have the cattle, and the breeding programs were working well, but we have nothing to feed them on.
“People aren't prepared for this, it looks like a war-zone and there's going to be flare-ups; we had three this morning, but it can't burn anything much.”
In Waroona alone, the community of more than 200 farms had been brought to its knees.
In spite of the disaster, the Muirs said they were already preparing to fight their way back into business.
“Helen and I sat down, we were shocked when we came back in from the evacuation, so what we've done is realised what the problems are, worked out the priorities, how to fix them up and rebirth, which is pretty bloody stupid at our age,” he said.
“But that's the only way you can do it.”
Mrs Muir isn’t letting herself be daunted by the job ahead and said she is hopeful the community can rebuild.
“It’s like the little orchard I put in last year; everything around it was been burnt away, everything, but somehow it survived,” she said.
“They made jokes about me when I put it in, but I wanted more mature trees because I didn’t want to wait around watching them grow, and now they’re all that’s left.”
Canning MP Andrew Hastie, who had been working to help fire affected communities since the outbreak of the bushfires, said he would be fighting to secure assistance for those affected.
“The role of government is to help people who can't help themselves, so there's a lot of work to be done in the recovery, and locals will do a lot of that work but for farmers who've been hit especially hard, I think we can lend a helping hand with funding,” he said.
“What I've heard, the message from farmers is that they need help with fencing, they need help with feed and they need help with labour.
“They're the three main concerns and so I'll certainly be working on behalf of the people of Waroona to make sure the federal government helps out where we can on those three areas.”
