MUNDARING residents Rob Greenwood and his wife Jacqueline Bousfield are calling on the state and federal governments to make further investments in bushfire mitigation equipment in preparation for extreme weather conditions.

Mr Greenwood drew parallels with the January Los Angeles (LA) wildfires and said investment in proportion to actual and perceived risks was necessary.

“Do we draw a parallel between what just happened in Los Angeles in early 2025, with what can happen in similar catastrophic fire conditions across Perth Hills and Perth foothills suburbia in the future?” Mr Greenwood said.

“If we invest now, I think there’s far less likelihood of (catastrophic events) ever happening.”

Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) Commissioner Darren Klemm said the LA wildfires were significantly different to what has been experienced in Australia.

“In Western Australia, property damage and loss in bushfires is usually from ember attack rather than the fire moving from house to house as it appears to have done in LA,” he said.

Mr Klemm said DFES was looking closely at the reviews and findings from the LA fires aftermath.

“Emergency services are well prepared for bushfires throughout the year with additional resources during the high-risk months of November to March including a bolstered aerial fleet and additional firefighting appliances which are moved around regularly according to risk.”

Emergency Services Minister Paul Papalia said the state government invested $3.3 million through the bushfire mitigation activity fund (MAF) this year, with Mundaring allocated $456,819.80.

“The bushfire MAF is crucial in helping local governments all over Western Australia safeguard their communities and there will be future investments through this program,” Mr Papalia said.

Mr Greenwood recommended having a fleet of heavy duty fixed-wing water bombers stationed permanently on the Swan Coastal Plain.

“While we’ve got the wealth, we need to be putting those resources in place to protect our built assets and our environmental assets,” he said.

Mr Papalia said WA’s firefighting fleet were based at strategic locations across the state.

“Aircraft based at Jandakot during bushfire season include Helitaks which can fly at speeds up to 240km/hr, reaching Mundaring in less than 10 minutes,” Mr Papalia said.

“Helitaks located at Jandakot and RAAF Gingin provide a rapid response capability for this area and are automatically dispatched to fires along the Darling Scarp.”

Mr Klemm said while emergency services were well prepared, the reality was firefighters won’t be able to protect every home from bushfire.

“We need the public to be prepared and have a plan to stay safe.”

*A previous edition of this article said in Mundaring instead of on the Swan Coastal Plain.