Emergency bushfire warning issued for suburban area in ...

A bushfire emergency warning has been issued for a residential area in Dunsborough, in Western Australia's South West, with people told to leave the area now. 

The warning is in place for people bounded by Hansen Street and Beach Road to the north, Gifford Road to the east, Caves Road to the south and Cape Naturaliste Road to the west.

Authorities are warning there is a threat to lives and homes. 

Thick smoke can be seen billowing from the area, with multiple fire crews at the scene including fire-fighting aircraft.

Residents at the scene have described seeing flames burning in bushland dangerously close to homes. 

Fire 'a challenge for ground crews'

Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) Incident Controller Matt Muir said the blaze was a challenge for crews on the ground.

"We've got a fire on the western side of Cape Naturalist Drive and it's hopped over into the reserve bounded by Marri Drive and Hansen Street," he said.

"We currently have numerous properties under threat and the fire isn't contained or controlled at the moment.

"We've got numerous VFRS (Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services), bush fire brigade, air support and DFES personnel assisting in containing and controlling that fire."

The fire is heading in an easterly direction back towards the Dunsborough town site, with light south-westerly winds.

Mr Muir said thick vegetation around structures was causing problems for crews.

He said residents in the warning area could leave if it was safe to do so.

"Currently we have four air attack [planes] in the air … they're doing a magnificent job as always assisting the ground crews.

"An evacuation centre is set up at the Dunsborough Recreation Centre currently, so anyone that needs to evacuate can head there."

Carly Hopkins left her home for the evacuation centre.

"My husband went outside and said, 'You need to call triple-0 now,' so I phoned and ran up the street to see where it was, and it was in the bush behind us," she said.

"Police had come around and just told us to evacuate and we got the text message so, because we've only got one road in and out, that's when I was felling a little bit unsafe."

Wind direction stable

Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Catherine Schelfhout said the wind was not expected to change direction this afternoon.

"Winds are southerly at the moment, a bit more south, south-westerly and they should stay that way," she said.

"So that's probably a good thing. They're not expecting any significant wind change, which of course is always a risk factor with fire.

"[The winds] are freshening up a bit … it's hard to tell because Cape Naturaliste, of course, is a very exposed site and is blowing at about 30 kilometres an hour at the moment."

But she said the wind speed in the Dunsborough town site, which was a little more sheltered, would be closer to 20-25kph.

The fire was first reported at about 12:45pm on Sunday.

Visit Emergency WA, call DFES on 133 337, follow DFES on Twitter or listen to ABC Local Radio to stay up to date.