At a briefing by the Bureau of Meteorology to the DFES on 16 November , a McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index ( FFDI ) rating of 250 – 260 was reportedly forecast for 17 November ; described as " ... worse than the day of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria that claimed 173 lives and injured some 5000 people " . Despite fears for the escalation of the fire in the forecast conditions , which greatly exceeded the threshold for " catastrophic " ( an FFDI of 100 ) , all three fires remained at the classification of " Level 1 " and therefore under the control of local brigades . Following the fires , Deputy Commissioner of the DFES , Lloyd Bailey , stated that on 16 November ; The passage of a low pressure system over the south-west of the state created winds of moderate gale to storm force from the north to west over the Shire of Esperance and all three fire zones , elevating the temperature to over across most of the shire . An extremely low relative humidity of 6 % was observed at the Salmon Gums Research Station at 15:00 AWST , and a " storm force " wind gust of from the west-north-west was recorded at 15:37 AWST . Winds were consistently during the afternoon , with frequent gusts up to
Black Saturday bushfires
Black Saturday bushfires
2015 Esperance bushfires