Survivors tell of terror, fleeing as flames jumped ‘like a fireball’

She yelled to her dad, grabbed the phone and called 000.

Scrambling to get her dogs into the car, she called her partner Danny Patton and her son Tahj Milne and they raced home.

“The sky just went orange all of a sudden and it looked like flames were coming over the back of my shed,” she said.

Mr Patton and Mr Milne arrived soon after. Mr Patton said the fire was moving to the north of the property at the time.

“It seemed like we would be safe for a while, then it came back, the wind caught it again and the next-door neighbour’s paddocks caught on fire,” he said.

While the men stayed to protect the property, Ms Mirco tried to flee. But as she travelled up the road she realised she was driving towards more flames. Panicked, firefighters found her and told her it would be safer back at home.

Mr Patton said what happened next was terrifying. As he and Mr Milne helped their neighbour put out grass fires, he would turn around to more fires starting behind them.

“All night there were sounds of gas bottles blowing up, huge booms everywhere. Trees seemed like they were catching on fire before the fire even got to it. It was an amazing scene,” he said.

At one point a plane flew low over their heads and dropped water.

On Tuesday morning they were watching as trees smouldered nearby, after having attempted some sleep. Their home is still standing, while many others have been razed.

“One eye open, one eye closed,” Mr Patton said.

The fire was described as an “immense tragedy” by WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson as the emergency zone encompassed 15 suburbs.

It is believed about 80 per cent of properties in the Tilden Drive area of the northern semi-rural suburb of Gidgegannup have been lost and authorities are working to see if anyone died.

When 400 people filled the local evacuation centre, a second one had to be opened.

Premier Mark McGowan – now dealing with a fire emergency on top of a COVID-19 emergency – said weather conditions were extremely volatile. Winds were swinging around, and Perth would reach 37 degrees on Tuesday. He asked for an extra aerial tanker from New South Wales.

There were more than 250 firefighters on the ground, plus State Emergency Service volunteers.

Personnel on the ground said these were extraordinary conditions, with spot fires jumping 3 kilometres ahead of the front at times.

Brigadoon resident Trevor Williamson, watching the fire with his wife from a local lookout after evacuating, was struck by its ferociousness.

“You could actually see the flames … it actually jumped about three k’s, it jumped up like a fireball,” he said. “I have seen a lot of fires but it was the most intense fire I have ever seen. It went up like a tinderbox.”

The fire remains out of control.