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WA fires: Parkerville bushfire engulfs homes east of Perth, Toodyay, Eaton, Lancelin fires downgraded

A bushfire crisis that destroyed a number of properties in Perth's hills has eased, and emergency fires elsewhere in southern WA have now been downgraded.

A fire in Parkerville, 30 kilometres east of Perth, quickly engulfed homes on Thursday morning, leaving residents little time to flee.

One of the destroyed properties belonged to Mark Norton, who had just minutes to escape before flames engulfed the home. 

"The fire was on both sides, really, really hot ... it was an awful experience," he said. 

Mr Norton remained in remarkably positive spirits, and thanked firefighters for their efforts. 

"It's just stuff, nobody got hurt, maybe three cats and a few guinea pigs which I will mourn for, but everyone's okay," he said.

"The fire was still the height of the trees when I left. How they managed to contain that in such a short period of time in 39-degree heat with this wind ... they're amazing, they really are." 

The emergency warning area at one stage included the neighbouring suburbs of Hovea and Stoneville, but it was reduced just before 2pm.

The fire was downgraded to a watch and act alert at 2:45pm, and residents at a community meeting in the Swan Valley were told the fire had been contained.

Dozens of anxious residents gathered at Brown Park and the Swan Valley youth centre to hear the news.

"We still have firefighters actively containing the fire at the moment," Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) incident controller Shaun Champ said.

"The fire is now contained. But we're not out of the woods yet."

Earlier, aerial footage showed a number of houses alight.

Thick black smoke blanketed some parts of the suburb as aerial water bombers tried to douse the flames.

Two men injured

Two men in their 60s were taken to hospital after being injured in the fire.

Both men were hurt in separate incidents, one with minor burns and another with an injury to his foot.

Parkerville resident Hans Zielke came back to pick up his dogs from his daughter's house to find the property on fire.

Mr Zielke said he felt helpless.

"I just approached up the driveway to the house, and it was like … a black wall," he said.

"All too late — all the cars, everything is on fire, the house is on fire … [it's] all gone.

"I had to flee because it started burning on the other side of the driveway as well …it's frightening, very frightening."

DFES Commissioner Darren Klemm said the fire in Parkerville, where a blaze destroyed 57 homes in 2014, was of huge concern.

“We know Parkerville is an area where we’ve had significant fires before, including loss of homes, so the concern level is very high," he said.

Toodyay fire threat eases once again

The Toodyay fire began on Wednesday afternoon and was soon upgraded to an emergency level fire before conditions eased and it was downgraded to a watch and act alert just before 10:30am Thursday.

However just before 3pm on Thursday, the blaze flared up again with another emergency warning issued by authorities. 

The emergency threat finally eased once again on Thursday evening.

Five people were injured on Wednesday afternoon when a fire truck responding to the blaze rolled over en route to the fireground.

Meanwhile, another emergency situation unfolded in Bunbury, a city south of Perth, on Thursday afternoon.

An emergency warning was reissued for a fire in the suburb of Eaton with huge plumes of smoke visible from kilometres away.

Traffic came to a standstill on Forrest Highway, the main artery to the Busselton - Margaret River tourist region during the first week of school holidays, but the blaze was downgraded later on Thursday evening.

An evacuation centre has opened at the Eaton Recreation Centre on Recreation Drive. 

Lancelin fire causes disruption

Meanwhile, residents in the holiday town of Lancelin were forced to flee to the local jetty on Wednesday night.

The Lancelin bushfire has since been downgraded, but the town's only access road remained closed for most of Thursday and power supplies, cut across the entire community since 7:00pm on Wednesday, are unlikely to be fully restored until late Thursday.

The Lancelin blaze, believed to have started near the town's tip on Wednesday afternoon, quickly moved across the only road in and out of town, tearing down power poles in its rapid spread west towards the coast.

An alert warning remains in place.

Gingin shire president Wayne Fewster said the access issue was frustrating, with many people stuck inside the town and many others unable to return from Perth and elsewhere.

"A lot of our towns on the [Western Australian] coast have one road in one road out — and when these things happen it does cause some issues," he told ABC Radio.

He expressed further frustration at a person who flew a drone over the fireground on Wednesday evening, causing aerial water bombers to retreat.

"It did impact some of the aerial drops we should have been getting because some clown was out with his drone around," Mr Fewster said.

A makeshift evacuation centre was set up at the town hall for those who had to leave their homes, while another was set up in the nearby town of Guilderton for those unable to return.

"But there's no power which is causing massive problems for everyone," Mr Fewster said.

"We're trying to make things comfortable for people, but it's not easy because we can't get crews in or out."

"We've got power poles on the ground that have been burnt, it's going to take some time for Western Power to get in there and get things back up."

Mr Fewster said while winds had been "howling", he was confident things would improve once water bombers were able to get back in the air.

"It's early days, but special thanks to all of those volunteers and those who are out there helping, we really appreciate it," he said.

"It's a sign of the times I guess. It's been dry."

Toodyay residents flee

Toodyay resident Carol Leathley stayed in the emergency evacuation centre overnight after fleeing her home.

A local resident of seven years, she said she felt "sheer panic" when she got a call about the fire.

"It was very noisy obviously, [with] planes and helicopters flying around. I could see the smoke from our property," she said.

Ms Leathley lives on the western side of town with a flock of alpacas.

She was among many residents forced to abandon their livestock — a heartbreaking decision forced by the quickly changing emergency conditions and speed of the fire.

"We know at the moment that our property hasn't been affected, but with the way the wind is out there it's still quite dodgy."

Manjimup blaze downgraded

Another emergency warning was issued on Wednesday night for a fire in WA's south-west that has been burning for almost two days.

The warning area included the communities of Callcup, Crowea and Meerup in the Shire of Manjimup.

Rain and more favourable conditions helped firefighters make some progress against the blaze, burning west of Northcliffe and it was downgraded on Thursday afternoon.

More than 100 firefighters remain at the fireground, continuing to backburn and actively fight the fire.

The fire, which started accidentally on Tuesday afternoon, has burned through 3,000 hectares and continues to burn in a westerly direction.

Visit Emergency WA, call DFES on 133 337, follow DFES on Twitter or listen to ABC Local Radio to stay up to date.