Perth hills bushfire: Emergency warning issued for residents as out-of-control bushfire rages

Firefighters trying to tackle a potentially deadly bushfire have been delayed in their attempts to contain the blaze amid fears machinery could disturb Aboriginal sacred land.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said it could take up to “three or four days” to control a fast-moving bushfire raging in the Perth Hills after crews were urged to stop using heavy machinery to build containment lines.

“We have had to stop tracking with machines at the moment because we have some Aboriginal cultural sites in the (fire zone),” DFES incident controller Murray McBride said.

“We have got Indigenous liaisons working with us at the moment to identify those sites and that will dictate where we can put those machines.

“There are sites that have scattered artefacts and we have to be careful of that.”

The bushfire started near Toodyay Road in Gidgegannup about 12.40pm and quickly escalated, fanned by strong winds.

As the blaze burnt dangerously close to properties, an emergency warning was issued for Red Hill, Millendon, Herne Hill and Baskerville with residents told they were in danger and needed to “act immediately to survive”.

Mr McBride said the lack of machinery could actually result in greater damage to the sacred sites but was not preventing crews from saving lives and property.

“Life will always be our main priority,” he said.

Mr McBride said there had been no reports of property loss and that conditions were making it “difficult” for crews. “We have properties being affected by ember attacks.

As of Tuesday night, the blaze had burnt more than 360ha with 250 firefighters on the ground trying to bring it under control.

DFES used 13 water bombers, which were paused on Tuesday night before they were scheduled to redeploy on Wednesday morning.

Those forced to flee their homes were told to head to the evacuation centre at the Brown Park Recreation Complex on Salisbury Road in Swan View.

Meantime, residents who could not leave were told to get ready to shelter in their homes.

Aerial support, including numerous water bombers and large air tankers — joined the effort to suppress the flames.

A watch and act alert was also issued for people bounded by Burgess Road, Toodyay Road, Scott Road and Red Hill Quarry in parts of Gidgegannup — and also for people in parts of Herne Hill and Middle Swan in the Swan Valley.

The blaze in Perth’s north-east followed another fire which broke out about the same time near the intersection of Parsons Avenue and Chisham Avenue in Parmelia.

Firefighters managed to get the blaze quickly under control. It is understood the arson squad is investigating.