Holidaymakers and residents were forced to evacuate Ledge Point in the middle of the night.

“We heard this massive bang on the door, it was our neighbour telling us we had to evacuate,” Belinda Evangelista said.

The bushfire was fast moving and unpredictable.

Fanned by gusty winds, it tore through 800 hectares starting about 1am.

Evacuees were given 30 minutes to flee their homes.

“I went out the front door to have a look and was met with a wall of flames coming up over the hill towards our house,” Sandy Willcott said.

The caravan park was in the fire’s path and 150 people who were fast asleep were told to shelter on the beach.

Donna Boucaut had just spent her first night in the coastal holiday town, after arriving with her partner in their new caravan from Mandurah.

“We could see the fire right over the hill from the caravan park it was so close,” she said.

The fire was brought under control today but residents remained on edge after learning it might be the work of an arsonist.

Fire investigators have been sent about 100 kilometres north from Perth to Indian Ocean Drive.

A potential ignition point right near the highway is their main focus.

Just hours earlier a spontaneous combustion of hay bales sparked a bushfire emergency in Gingin.

Crews fighting that inferno were told to head north and 150 firefighters worked tirelessly to save Ledge Point from the flames.

Help was also called in from above via planes and helicopters.

Shaun Champ from the DFES said the fire “came within metres” of the town.

He said no properties were damaged.