Lending a Hand to WA Bushfire Recovery Effort

At the beginning of February, Australia was rocked with the news of bushfires burning in Western Australia's south-west. After six days the fires damaged 11,000 hectares of land and 86 homes were destroyed as well as causing blackouts to countless properties. 

Although bushfires are always a reality for the harsh conditions we live in here in Australia, power cables are particularly vulnerable and difficult to protect.

On Tuesday the 10th of February, Prysmian Australia received a call from Western Power and were able to jump into action immediately. In the space of just one day, we were able to supply 50km (the length of 500 footy fields!) of bare overhead cables. Western Power will use these cables to quickly reconnect services, ensuring impacted areas can get back on the grid as soon as possible. 

“Our customer called at 4 pm last Wednesday asking us to help with the bushfire efforts. We responded by activating our rapid response priority system. Within days, we sent around 50km of bare overhead conductor from our depot in Perth and factory in Sydney to help Western Power bring services back online.” says Patrick, Commercial Manager, Power Distribution.

At Prysmian Australia, we have the local resources and know-how to act where we are needed as soon as we are required.

Being familiar with the annual cycle of bushfires and using weather forecasting services, we are able to pre-emptively keep in stock potentially required ‘bushfire’ cables at the start of each summer.

Our Australian factory is operated locally in Liverpool Sydney and produces hundreds of kilometres of bare overhead conductor every month. It is here in Liverpool as well as our second plant in Dee Why, Sydney, that we support over 500 local jobs. We are locals helping locals and doing our bit to support where we are needed most.