The bushfire is threatening the holiday town on Cervantes, north of Perth, with about 200 firefighters on the scene. (Supplied: DFES)
In short:
Emergency warnings remain in place as a huge bushfire threatens multiple coastal communities north of Perth.
Residents have been told it's too late to leave as the blaze continues to be fanned by changing winds.
What's next?
More than 200 firefighters are battling the huge blaze, with the help of two large air tankers from New South Wales.
Residents in several coastal communities north of Perth have been warned it is too late to leave as an out of control bushfire continues to threaten lives and properties, fanned by changing winds.
The seaside holiday town of Cervantes, along with the smaller nearby communities of Grey and Wedge Island, are under the highest level of emergency warning, with authorities warning residents to shelter in place.
Late on Thursday afternoon fire authorities said the blaze was within one to two kilometres of the Cervantes township, and had reached the coastline south of Grey.
Pictures from Grey on Thursday afternoon appeared to show residents preparing to evacuate.
People left the settlement of Grey whichever way they could as the fire approached. (Supplied: Marine Rescue Jurien Bay )
The fire front's perimeter has grown to 48 kilometres, which is "obviously increasing the challenge for firefighters," Department of Fire and Emergency Services [DFES] incident controller Damien Pumphrey told journalists.
Mr Pumphrey said changing winds had made it difficult to contain the fire.
Smoke blanketed areas around Cervantes for much of the day on Wednesday. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)
"While our crews are using every available tool to suppress this fire and to protect life, property and infrastructure, the conditions presented to us over the course of today and yesterday have been difficult and challenging," he said.
"The fire is burning quite fiercely with the change in wind that we've experienced … we've gone from a northerly influence to a southerly influence, which is definitely fanning those fires quite significantly towards those communities."
Similar conditions are expected over the next couple of days, with a constant shift in winds and temperatures forecast to reach the high 30s.
A bushfire was threatening the coastal town of Cervantes, 200 kilometres north of Perth. 28/11/24 (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)
"Firefighter fatigue becomes an issue the longer these incidents escalate and continue to be a problem," Mr Pumphrey said.
"Sustaining over 200 firefighters in this firefighting effort in relatively warm conditions out on this fire land presents a number of challenges over such a large area, but our crews are wonderful, and they're doing an amazing job to protect the properties that are there and do everything that they can to contain these fires."
Residents warned to take shelter
A Shire of Dandaragan community briefing was held at a recreation centre in Jurien Bay on Thursday afternoon, with Mr Pumphrey telling locals it was not safe to leave because the fire's behaviour on both Cervantes Road and Indian Ocean Drive was posing a significant threat.
Residents were briefed on the fire at the Jurien Bay recreation centre. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)
Mr Pumphrey said the fire was moving in a westerly direction towards the communities of Grey and Wedge Island, and people in those communities needed to shelter in a safe place within a structure.
Conditions and the fire's behaviour were changing rapidly, he said.
And although significant resources had been deployed to tackle the blaze, the weather would to continue to be "unfavourable" on Thursday and Friday.
Cervantes Primary School will remain closed on Friday and road closures will remain in place.
Smoke from the blaze in Wedge Island has reached as far north as Coral Bay. (ABC News)
No property losses have so far ben reported, although two firefighters were injured yesterday, one of whom remains in a Perth hospital in a stable condition.
Two large air tankers have been sent to the area from interstate to help in the firefighting efforts, with the first due in operation on Thursday afternoon when it's expected to drop water on the Cervantes town site.
Resident shares fears
Cervantes resident Melissa King has safely evacuated but doesn't know what she'll come back to.
"It's really scary. I don't know if I'm going to have a house to come back to eventually so I'm worried," she said.
Cervantes resident Melissa King has fled her home and is fearful of what she might find when she returns. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)
"I won't know until I go and have a look myself."
She said didn't realise the fire would become dangerous so quickly.
A number of major roads in the area around Cervantes remain closed. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)
"We did pack when we got to a yellow, orange alert but then we just loaded up the car when it got to red."
Ms King is seeking shelter at her parents' house until the blaze is under control and contained.
Shire of Dandaragan president Tony O'Gorman earlier said he had not heard of any injuries or property losses.
"At this stage I believe everybody is OK," he told ABC Radio Perth.
Shire of Dandaragan president Tony O'Gorman is in Jurien Bay coordinating the community amid the fire threat. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)
"We spoke to a number of people in Cervantes through Facebook last night and asked them to move. And I know a number of people have come up here to Jurien Bay."
"We can't force people out, we do prefer that they leave early rather than later. The later you leave it, the more difficult it becomes."
There is non-stop action at Jurien Bay's airport as crews work in windy and hot conditions to refuel planes tackling the blaze from the sky. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)
A new runway at Jurien Bay Airport is being put to good use, with aircraft using it to refuel and help crews battle the fire from the air.
The fire was sparked by a car crash on Monday morning and has burnt through almost 43,000 hectares of mostly isolated scrubland.
Live Moment
WA's Department of Fire and Emergency Commissioner Darren Klemm is giving an update on the Cervantes emergency bushfire on ABC Radio Perth.
Fire has burnt through 42,000 hectares
G
Gian De Poloni
Just to recap:
The fire is approximately 48km long north to south
It's proving tricky to control on the western side with crews experiencing strong easterly windy
Most of the work last night was about strengthening containment lines around Cervantes
There are 200 firefighters on site
There are 4 fixed wing aircraft and 2 helicopters on site
Two large air tankers are also coming in this afternoon, stationed from Busselton
The north-western edge of the fire is about 10km from Cervantes
Cervantes faces a significant risk due to high fuel loads in the area
The presence of unexploded ammunition is proving another complication for firefighters
The job has been made a bit harder for two reasons — unexploded ammunition and people being injured while fighting the fire.
Earlier in the week, the fire moved into the Lancelin Defence Training Area naval and air range.
In that area, there is debris known as unexploded ordinances.
"It really restricts us to only be able to access on established tracks rather than be able to get right to the edge of the fire," Commissioner Klemm says.
Unrelated to that, two firefighters were also injured on the fireground near Wedge Island on Wednesday.
One was flown to hospital in Perth, but Commissioner Klemm says he is expected to make a full recovery.
Commissioner Klemm says the fire is about 10km to the east of Cervantes, which has a population of about 500.
"It's very important people stay vigilant obver the next 12 hours," he says.
He says the threat is "pretty significant".
"There are pretty significant fuel loads," he says.
"It is pretty dry. We're really into the bushfire season proper now."
Commissioner Klemm says the area south of Jurien Bay was burnt about two years ago, which will reduce the threat on the northern flank of the fire.
