Perth hills bushfire: Dangerous conditions loom as fire fighters prepare for another long night

DFES has advised people in Bullsbrook’s Shady Hills area to evacuate immediately as authorities fight to control the blaze in the city’s north-east.

DFES Deputy Commissioner Craig Waters updated the media on Wednesday afternoon, saying it was still uncontained and uncontrolled.

“There are still areas of terrain which we can’t get into, even with bulldozers,” he said.

“We’ve had some issues with fire fighters with minor burns.

“We’re bringing in crews from all over the State.”

Wind changes and rough terrain are hampering firefighting efforts. A south-easterly wind change is going to put pressure on areas which weren’t affected before.

“We’ve had three outbreaks during the day, which is going to impact Shady Hills soon and one in the northern flank,” the Deputy Commissioner said.

The property loss is still at 71 as of 4.30 on Wednesday, but is expected to rise.

“The fire had been spotting well ahead of the main head fire. We want to make sure the community is well prepared,” he said.

Mr Waters said cooler changes forecast for the rest of week should help, but said tonight’s winds were looming dangerously. More than 10,000 hectares have now been burnt.

“It’s unpredictable. We’ve tracked a lot of dirty areas that we haven’t tracked because we haven’t been able to get into,” he said.

At this stage it’s too dangerous to let anyone in, but Mr Waters said DFES will look at restricted access permits in the coming days.

Avon Ridge and Shady Hills are critical tonight.

Some 800 power poles have been destroyed. Western Power are working to make sure those damaged poles are made safe too.