By Brendan Foster
Caris Goldsworthy said she feared for her live and home when the skyline turned red as a wall of flames came howling towards her home in Brabham, in Perth's north-eastern suburbs.
More than 55 firefighters, waterbombers and helitacs spent all of Sunday battling to get the blaze in Whiteman Park, Henley Brook and Brabham under control.
Residents were forced to evacuate as the blaze came within 100 metres of homes.
About 80 firefighters remained at a fire just after lunch on Monday, which scorched more than 370 hectares of bushland.
The moment Brabham's skyline 'turned red' following bush fires on Sunday Credit: Caris Goldsworthy
Ms Goldsworthy said she was sitting on her couch in Tappen Way, when she asked her partner Adam, if he could smell smoke.
"It's common for there to be fires at Whiteman Park, so I didn't think it was a big issue," she told Fairfax Media.
"But we went outside and there was a red skyline.
"A lot of people weren't home so we were running around turning people's sprinklers on.
"I was standing at the end of the road, but when the gum tree blew up, I thought, 'it's too close, we have to go'."
Ms Goldsworthy said the noise of the flames heading towards her home was deafening.
"The fire was roaring," she said.
"If the wind hadn't changed, most of the houses here would be gone".
Ms Elle Shelton, who lives two doors down from Ms Goldworthy, said was amazed how quickly the fire moved towards them.
"Then the next thing we knew there were firefighters on Lord Street," she said.
"Most of us had to go - you can't think twice.
"The wind was howling towards us and the flames were coming straight towards us.
"An ember caught fire on some dry grass, then a gum tree went up in flames and we knew it was time to leave.
"It happened in 45 minutes."
Ms Shelton said she had little time to grab anything from her home, which she moved into with her partner Ryan six months ago.
"We grabbed valuables, passport, clothes - we couldn't think of anything else," she said.
"The flames were huge...a couple of metres above the tree line.
"You really could hear the flames and feel the heat off them."
Both women were overjoyed to find their homes standing when they returned late on Sunday night.
"Sheer relief to honest," Ms Shelton laughed.
"The best feeling ever – it was such a good feeling," Ms Goldsworthy said.