Australian holidaymakers have described their fear after they were forced to flee to safety as a wall of flames tore through several villas in Bali.
The blaze started in the popular tourist area of Seminyak about 10.30pm on Thursday, burning accommodation at Amaysa Villas, as well as nearby homes, to the ground.
Perth man Rod Blitvich said he was awoken by someone banging on his door before he was confronted with an “orange glow” at his doorstep.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
“They wanted us out straightaway, they wouldn’t even let me lock the door, he just pulled me away — once I got outside I realised why,” he said.
Mr Blitvich and his wife managed to grab passports, bags, phones and wallets while other people’s items perished in nearby villas.
“We did hear a lot of loud fireworks nearby around that time… quite possibly one’s landed on a thatched roof,” he added.
“We all just stood outside and pavement about 50 meters away for an hour or so, I actually watched the embers in the wind floating from one roof to another roof, and then they would flare up.”
He said the villas and houses behind his villa were on fire and that the blaze quickly spread to other buildings with thatched rooves.
Several buildings just metres away from where he was staying were destroyed, said Mr Blitvich.
“There was lots of black ash everywhere all over the veranda…. water leaked under the doors into the bedrooms. Everything was very smelly and smoky.
“I was able to go back about 1am with my head torch on solar power was out and I was able to get in and get half our stuff and bring it all back to the other villa.”
Alice Bowers, who was staying at Amaysa Villas with her mum and cousin, had to quickly evacuate after a wall of flames came towards the villa.
“We were hearing popping and banging,” she told 7NEWS.
“We thought maybe it was fireworks because people were having a party nearby and then all of the lights went out and were cut.
“I came out onto the balcony to see how far the power outage was and I saw lots of red and orange smoke. I woke my mother up and we put as much as we could into our bags and came down.
“We thought we had more time but the fire just moved so, so quickly. It jumped from roof to roof and spread very quickly. We were very lucky to get out.”
She said they managed to grab their visas and passports before the building went up in flames.
“The most we lost was clothes and toiletries — replaceable things. We just feel very lucky that we got our visas and passports and we are all OK.”
Bailey, also from WA, said he and his friends lost everything in the blaze.
“We were out for dinner and on our way back we could see flames in the distance. As we were getting close we realised our villa was on fire,” he told 6PR on Friday morning.
“I lost everything apart from my passport and cash, a couple of them lost passports and a couple have lost everything.
“We are going to head to the embassy and get passports for the others and find some new accommodation.”
Videos posted to social media showed fire trucks speeding through the streets as tourists and locals either watched on or ran away.