The number of homes destroyed in the Pinery bushfire has risen from 87 to 91, as the South Australian Government prepares to hand out its first relief payments to those affected by the fire next week.

The fire, which started on November 25, killed two people and burnt through more than 85,000 hectares of land.

Tens of thousands of livestock were killed and the fire razed more than 300 farm sheds and outbuildings.

Payments to victims will come from the SA Pinery Fire Appeal, which has so far raised $1.8 million.

But relief effort coordinator, Vince Monterola, stressed more cash donations would be welcome.

"It's probably one of the nicest Christmas gestures you could make," he said.

"So if people are thinking of doing something, I'd say look at this time of Christmas, what better thing to do than to help all of these families in their time of need."

Mr Monterola said local businesses in the fire ground also needed help with turnover.

"There are a lot of small businesses in these small communities and many of them are suffering because people just don't have the money to go and buy as they were before the fire, so we'd like to prop those small businesses up as well."

Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion Zoe Bettison said more then 2,500 people had reported being affected in the fire, but they needed to fill out an application to obtain financial assistance from the fund.

She said the applications would then be independently assessed.

Ms Bettison said $20,000 would go to families of the two people who died in the fire and $5,000 would go to individuals who were critically injured.

Recovery to take up to two year: Monterola

Mr Monterola said the recovery was going well at this stage, but warned of a long road ahead.

"In no way is this going to be over in a few weeks or a few months. We'll still be working on this recovery in two years' time. It is a big job."

He said there was an estimated 60,000 tonnes of debris and rubble left by the fire, which also had to be cleared from the fire ground.

Trudy Ireland lost the house she shared with her partner Anton Noack, at Hamley Bridge, but was grateful they escaped with their lives.

But Ms Ireland said she had only begun to grasp the depth of their loss.

"The grief of losing our homes is hitting us and losing our personal possessions and family heirlooms and all of our children's memorabilia ... that's a big loss," she said.

"Another two years is going to be a long time. We hope things settle down and we can get back to normal as soon as we can."