Dark board behind the fuses? Don't disturb it
Black or dark brown bituminous backing boards made before 1987 can contain asbestos, and some old fuses on them can hold friable asbestos inside the carrier. In WA any friable asbestos must go to a licensed removalist, and drilling or cutting asbestos with power tools is banned. Leave it closed and mention it when you book.
Forrestfield's houses and setting
Built mostly after the war
Significant development came in the post-war years, with rapid growth from the 1950s into the 1970s. The population has been fairly stable since the early 1990s.
Homes south, industry north
Roe Highway splits Forrestfield into a southern residential area and a northern industrial area, on the southern border of Perth Airport.
Mostly family houses
At the 2021 Census, 88.5% of homes were separate houses and 44.8% had four or more bedrooms. 45.5% were mortgaged and 22.2% rented.
Fire hazard rules apply
The City of Kalamunda's Fire Hazard Reduction Notice covers owners and occupiers of land across the City, with works due by 1 November 2026 and kept up until 31 March 2027.
The original board: what it means now
The City of Cockburn's heritage guide dates Perth's brick ranch houses to 1945 to 1980, the same decades Forrestfield grew fastest. A board that still has fuses usually means some circuits have no RCD protection at all, and in WA every power point and lighting circuit must have it before a home's title is transferred, with two RCDs as the minimum.
Old boards also struggle with modern load. Adding a circuit means Western Power's circuit breaker main switch rule kicks in, so an air con or oven upgrade often becomes a board replacement. A good quote will say so up front.
Fire season and the power
On Extreme or Catastrophic fire danger days, Western Power won't switch power back on after an unplanned outage, and it may patrol lines first on high risk days. Outages near the scarp can last into the evening.
If a line is down, stay at least 8 metres away and call Western Power on 13 13 51.
If it were our Forrestfield house
We'd find out what the switchboard is before planning anything else. If it's the original, we'd replace it with one that has safety switches on every circuit and room for what's coming, and we'd have the backing checked for asbestos before any work starts.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.