Firefighters contain destructive bush fire

Cooler temperatures and easing winds on Monday helped firefighters contain a bush fire that killed two people and razed 143 properties, with cleanup efforts getting under way.

The inferno, sparked by lightning six days ago, burned through 71,000 hectares in Western Australia state, leaving a trail of destruction, the latest in a series of summer blazes that have so far left eight people dead.

"The weather conditions are great today and they were in the last 24 hours so we have been able to essentially contain this fire," Western Australia's Emergency Services Minister Joe Francis told national radio.