Windy Harbour takes fire threat in stride

Far from evacuating to the beach in fear of their lives as a massive bushfire was being tackled behind them, the residents of Windy Harbour sat on their balconies and had a wee tipple.

In an emergency alert issued on Wednesday, authorities said the fire threatening the West Australian town of Northcliffe had spread to the isolated seaside settlement some 25km to the south.

With the road cut off, the 41 people at Windy Harbour were advised to take refuge at the beach, and then it emerged they might be evacuated by air or sea.

But their reaction was far from panicked.

After some initial concerns on Tuesday night, there wasn't much left to do but prepare properties and wait.

"We were going to go to bed and I just stepped outside to have a bit of a sniff and a look, and I saw a bit of an orange glow, so I went up to the balcony," Ann Rice, one of 20 residents at the holiday village, told AAP.

"Well, this northwest hot wind came and we thought it was raining. But it was leaves and sticks falling on the roof.

"We jumped in the car and drove up to Salmon Beach half a kilometre from here and saw this wall of orange, of flames coming at us."

After racing home, cushions were placed inside, buckets filled with water, cars were packed and a team patrolled the settlement with their firefighting unit - a 4WD with a 500 litre water tank slipped on the back.

About four hours later, the wind died down and some went to bed while others kept watch.

The next morning, water bombers flew in.

"Thank God, because there's no way we could have possibly defended what we had.

"Apparently they were saying `flee to the ocean'. We were just having drinks on the balcony and watching the fire bombers, and having a swim because it was a bit hot."

Then a boat that had sailed 90 nautical miles from Augusta turned up.

"They said `who needs rescuing?' and we said `no one. We're fine'.

"They could have just rung and said `do you need anything like milk or bread?'

"And then they just turned around and went back."

More relief came when a local abalone fisherman arrived with beer, cigarettes and meat.

"He actually arrived with handy stuff. That was fabulous."