The family of a cancer survivor fear he may have died in a bushfire that ravaged the historic town of Yarloop, south of Perth, after the elderly man stayed to defend his home.
Three people are still missing from the blaze, which destroyed at least 121 homes and 10 other structures in Yarloop, but police have not released their names.
It is possible Malcolm Taylor is among the other unaccounted for people and not one of the three official missing people, but his family and friends say they are concerned for his welfare.
One family member, who did not want to be named, told AAP on Saturday that she feared Mr Taylor had perished because no one had heard from him since Thursday evening before the fire ripped through the town, and he had not registered himself with authorities.
When she last spoke with the 73-year-old, who requires a hearing aid, he said he was going to stay at his house.
"He goes to bed early, around 7.30pm, so we're worried that he turned off his hearing aid and went to sleep and then the houses went up so quickly," she said.
"One minute the houses were there and the next they were gone."
She said the gas bottles outside the house would have blown up and the family was concerned Mr Taylor had been killed.
"He would have been well and truly asleep and his house is the first one on that street that went," she said.
The family has also seen footage on the news of Mr Taylor's razed house and the remains of his burnt-out car.
"If Malcolm was all right, he would have rung someone by now," she said.
Family and friends are trying to spread the word on social media and at evacuation centres in the hopes that someone will have information about Mr Taylor or see him to urge him to register with authorities.
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