The Latest Breaking News from Department of Fire and Emergency Services

Three people killed in outback chemical crash inferno

A truck carrying ammonium nitrate and a car have been incinerated in a fiery crash in outback WA, with at least three people killed.

AAP · Oct 11, 2023

Review of emergency response to Cyclone Seroja finds some staff trained 'on the job'

A report on the initial response of WA's emergency services to Cyclone Seroja in 2021 finds a lack of qualified staff meant some had to be "trained on the job", and highlights a "lack" of financial management processes.

ABC News · Feb 8, 2023

Australia's radioactive capsule: searching scientists were quietly confident

The task was daunting: find a tiny radioactive capsule that had fallen off a truck somewhere in Western Australia's vast outback sometime in January.

Reuters · Feb 3, 2023

Explainer-How did a radioactive capsule go missing in Australia and how dangerous is it?

Australian authorities are mounting an extensive search for a tiny radioactive capsule believed to have fallen out of a road train - a truck with multiple trailers - that travelled 1,400 km (870 miles) in Western Australia. Here's what you need to know:

Reuters · Jan 31, 2023

Australian nuclear agency joins hunt for lost radioactive capsule

People told to stay clear of the tiny capsule containing Caesium-137, which emits radiation equal to 10 X-rays per hour.

Al Jazeera · Jan 31, 2023

Australia mining company sorry for losing radioactive device

A mining corporation has apologized for losing a highly radioactive capsule over a 870-mile stretch of Western Australia

The Independent UK · Jan 30, 2023

Rio Tinto "sorry for alarm" amid search for tiny radioactive capsule missing in Australia

The exposure risk was low, but it "could cause radiation burns or radiation sickness," authorities in Western Australia said.

Axios · Jan 30, 2023

A small radioactive capsule has been lost in Western Australia. Here's how authorities plan to find it

It has been five days since authorities found out a dangerous radioactive capsule was missing in Western Australia, but search efforts to find the tiny device across a 1,400 kilometre distance are ongoing.

ABC News · Jan 30, 2023

Search stepped up for potentially deadly radioactive capsule lost in Western Australia

Authorities have conceded the capsule of highly radioactive material may never be found after disappearing on a 1400km journey

The Guardian - AU · Jan 29, 2023

Gascoyne bushfires burn for two weeks, killing livestock, destroying land and devastating pastoralists

Ongoing bushfires have destroyed more than 340,000 hectares of land, and hundreds of livestock, in WA's remote Gascoyne.

ABC News · Jan 20, 2022