A huge fire at a car wrecking yard in the eastern Perth suburb of Bellevue has destroyed up to 40 vehicles.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire at the business on Robert Street, which started just after 3:30am.

Heavy smoke caused the closure of parts of Great Eastern Highway and Roe Highway but they were reopened by 7:00am after 50 firefighters brought the blaze under control.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services district officer Andy Hinton said damage was confined to the yard, where vehicles had been stacked four cars high.

“There are structures and office space adjacent to the cars but the fire never entered any structures,” he said.

“It was good work by the firefighters who worked hard to protect those exposures and a couple of dangerous goods sites with some bulk fuel on location also didn’t get involved.”

Mr Hinton said it was fortunate the blaze broke out on a Sunday, when no-one was at the premises.

“Typically in a wrecking yard of cars like this there are a lot of explosions, mostly tyres expanding and blowing off,” he said.

“A number of noises would have been heard repeated over an hour period, I heard a lot of them myself.

“But that is a light industrial area on a weekend and we’re anticipating it’s had minimal impact on the public apart from perhaps some discomfort with smell.”

The owner of the business assisted firefighters at the scene.