Residents in Perth’s northern suburbs have been forced to flee an out-of-control bushfire believed to have destroyed at least two homes amid scorching heatwave conditions.
More than 100 firefighters are battling the massive blaze that forced hundreds of local families to evacuate their properties overnight as embers rained down on their homes.
Videos and photos posted online appear to show gutted homes and sheds with twisted and buckled tin rooves surrounded by blackened gardens.
Another recorded firefighters battling spot fires near homes in gusty winds and intense smoke that pushed the blaze into suburban streets.
Sarah Kilian stayed to defend her Tapping home from the blaze that ripped through nearby market gardens and engulfed a local park after leaping a four-lane road.
“There was two massive fires coming down the road and smoke everywhere,” she told AAP on Thursday.
“We haven’t slept a wink.”
Ms. Kilian said most of her neighbours evacuated their homes during the night as embers rained down on their homes that border semi-rural properties.
“Lucky my hubby stomped them out. It was just scary all night—absolutely chaotic.”
Smoke continues to rise from the fire grounds and a lone water bomber can be seen swooping down on bushland across a paddock of green vegetables.
An emergency warning remains in place for Wanneroo, Jandabup, Mariginiup, Melaleuca, Sinagra, Banksia Grove, and Tapping, about 30 kilometres north of the city centre.
Some residents continue to be told it is too late to leave their homes and they should immediately find shelter away from the fire front that is moving in a southwesterly direction.
“You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive,” the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said on Thursday.
“There is a threat to lives and homes.”
Chief Superintendent Metropolitan David Gill earlier said firefighters were working to strengthen containment lines around the blaze
“In these conditions, these fires can spread so fast,” he told ABC News.
He said the fire had “pulled up” as it reached urban areas and was spreading on its flanks to the north and south.
“We are expecting strong winds again today in difficult conditions with high temperatures,” he said.
Western Australia is in the grip of a severe heatwave and Perth is forecast to reach 40 degrees Celcius on Thursday, with wind gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour.
More than 1,000 properties in the bushfire area are without power, with reports that power poles and lines and other infrastructure has been damaged.
Multiple evacuation centres have also been set up for residents and animals evacuated from the fire zone.
Local resident Bruno Rikli helped evacuate an elderly couple from home overnight as the firefront crept within a few streets of their property.
“There was a massive plume of smoke in the night sky and a ball of red embers that was glowing red,” he told AAP.
“Roads were blocked but we got them out.”
Mr Rikli said the couple’s home survived the night without damage but the wind had started to whip up on Thursday morning, with ash falling on homes several kilometres west of the blaze.
“You can smell the smoke and it’s hazy but fire crews are doing an amazing job,” he said.
The fire was reported about 1 p.m. on Wednesday and 15 square kilometres of bush and grassland has been burned.
