Wildfire claims homes in Western Australia

Wildfires tore through the suburbs of an Australian city on Sunday, destroying a number of homes, news reports and authorities said. There were no reports of injuries.

Two fires fanned by hot summer winds were burning in forested areas to the north and southeast of Perth in Western Australia state, said Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokesman Rick Tyers said.

A fire at Roleystone to the southeast of the city flared suddenly on Sunday, and television news footage taken from a helicopter showed several houses fully ablaze.

Tyers said the authority had reports of homes lost in the fire but could not confirm them while efforts to battle the blaze were under way.

Further north, in the Swan Valley district, some 150 firefighters using six water-bombing helicopters and trucks were battling another wildfire.

About 100 people were told to evacuate their homes as authorities tried to contain the blaze, which started Saturday night and had scorched about 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of forest land by Sunday.

The fires in Australia's far west come as huge areas of the east coast recover from a huge cyclone that struck in Queensland state last week and from flooding from drenching rains in Queensland and in southern Victoria state.