Ellenbrook bushfire: Three hectares burnt after terrifying blaze raged close to homes

A ferocious bushfire came frighteningly close to homes in Ellenbrook on Thursday, the flames licking fences and claiming a backyard gazebo but remarkably leaving all houses in the suburb untouched.

Residents were evacuated from the fire zone, but some who didn’t get out in time had to shelter indoors and watch as the flames raged only metres away across the road.

Matt Beilken just managed to get his two young children to a neighbour’s house before flames almost reached his property minutes later, forcing him to stop firefighting efforts and shelter indoors.

“Initially it was moving in a sort of northerly direction and then at one stage we had a wind change, and it came straight at my house,” he told The West.

“I had to seek shelter at one stage because the flames were coming right up to my garage.

“Once I realised that the fire was coming my way, I quickly threw the kids in the car. One of my neighbours was standing out the front, so I drove the kids and the dog over, and asked him to look after them. The kids got pretty freaked out at one stage.”

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said about three hectares of bushland close to Tonkin Highway had been lost in the fire. The cause is not known, but authorities had not ruled out arson.

Smoke billowed across the highway most of the afternoon, making for tricky conditions for motorists.

DFES incident controller Tim McGrade said 75 crews had been called in to fight the blaze, with multiple waterbombers assisting from the air. Mr Beilken, a volunteer firefighter, thought he was “in a spot of bother” when he was forced to shelter indoors.

“I was pretty much straight into defence mode,” he said. “I had the hose going, just watering down the edges of the carport and just basically hoping that it was going to blow over quickly so I could get into defence mode as quickly as possible before any part of my house got taken out.

“This is the first time I’ve actually had to defend a house — my first time defending a house from a fire was my own house.”

“I just got back from the Boddington bushfire last weekend, and again, straight into it four or five days later.”

An emergency warning was issued just after 3pm, with residents told there was a threat to lives and homes.

The emergency warning was downgraded to a watch and act nearly two hours later.