More than 100 firefighters are battling a blaze in WA's Margaret River region which has destroyed more than 20 homes and 1800 hectares of bushland in the coastal town of Prevelly, where 200 residents were set to spend the night on the beach.
The fire started after a controlled burn in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, about 280 kilometres (170 miles) south of Perth, got out of control, Western Australia's Department of Conservation (DEC) confirmed.
Earlier, with the blaze travelling at 200 metres an hour and moving towards residential areas, the DEC described it as "out of control and unpredictable", warning there was a possible threat to lives.
"All my bits and pieces that make me are gone," says Marjorie Stewart, who lost her home in a raging bushfire in Western Australia's Margaret River region.
She and husband Garreth are among dozens of people reeling from their sudden loss in Wednesday's blaze that burnt more than 20 houses.
And they are angry at WA's Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) for allowing a prescribed burn to get out of control in the nearby Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from Prevelly, Gnarabup and other communities in the popular tourist region on Wednesday as more than 100 firefighters battled the blaze assisted by aerial water bombers.
At the evacuation centre in the Margaret River township on Wednesday night, the Stewarts saw aerial footage of the house they built at Orchid Ramble in 2002, burnt through with its roof caved in.
"We've got our lives but lost all our little bits and pieces that shouldn't mean anything, but they do," Ms Stewart, a school dental therapist, told AAP.
"I'm really angry with those who lit the fires, I hope they look after us because it's their fault, we've lost everything.
"Our fish are fried and our beautiful staghorns are gone, however many souvenirs from holidays, all my bits and pieces that make me are gone."
"That stuff you can't replace," she said.
Mr Stewart, a teacher at Margaret River Senior High School, raced back to their house on hearing of the fire threat and filled the roof gutters with water.
"Now I wish I hadn't spent so much time on that, I might have been able to get a bit more stuff out," he said, after only saving a few pictures and documents.
He said he could not understand why the DEC had been burning when weather information available on the internet indicated it was not a good time for it.
"We are insured but whether it's enough, who knows?
"I've seen the aerial footage but I suppose until you actually get out there and see, it's still not real," Mr Stewart said.
Police and firefighters on Wednesday evening escorted a long convoy of local residents and tourists from fire-threatened communities.
Judy Stewart, 60, who rode her Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the convoy behind her husband Rod's bike, said it was "very scary" going through burning bush and weaving between fallen trees and branches on the road.
"I have never been that close to a bushfire, my eyes are still burning," she said.
Fire crews continued to fight the fire overnight, hoping the winds would work in their favour to prevent further losses of houses.
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