Light drizzle after a long dry spell is to blame for a series of fires that have cut power to tens of thousands of homes in Western Australia, while extreme heat is set to dominate the remainder of the long weekend in Victoria and South Australia.
A spokesperson from Western Power said dozens of pole top fires had left 38,000 homes in the Perth and midwest regions of WA without power on Saturday morning.
Western Power’s executive manager for asset operations, Zane Christmas, explained the fires could occur in “light drizzling rain or misty, damp conditions when a combination of dust and pollution builds up to create paths or ‘tracks’ on the insulators.
He said the phenomenon was “a strange one”, but “happened around the country from time to time,” adding that heavier downpours usually washed pole top dust away.
Overnight on Friday, Perth received 2.4mm, just enough to dampen the dust that had gathered on electricity poles over months of dry weather.
