Adelaide Hills bushfire has destroyed 86 homes, SA Premier says

Updated

Thick smoke has blanketed Adelaide's CBD as the toll from the state's bushfire crisis continues to grow, with SA Premier Steven Marshall saying the number of homes lost now stands at 86.

Key points: The Environment Protection Authority said air quality had deteriorated across Adelaide

There are estimates that one-third of the hills wine region has been lost

Recovery efforts in the bushfire zones have been marred by reports of looting

Mr Marshall said almost 500 outbuildings, hundreds of vehicles, livestock, pets and crops had been destroyed by the Cudlee Creek fire in the Adelaide Hills.

The fire has caused a smoke haze to settle across Adelaide this morning.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) said the number of particles in the air from the smoke was well above the national standard.

The fire claimed the life of Charleston man Ron Selth, 69, who was found dead at his property on Saturday.

Mr Marshall said the loss of life was "very sad" but he was relieved there were not more people killed.

"I am quite amazed that there has only been one fatality; the catastrophic conditions we had on Friday were just extraordinary," Mr Marshall told ABC News Breakfast.

"The latest briefing I had was that [the number of homes lost] had climbed to 86 now.

"Almost 500 outbuildings and hundreds of vehicles [have been destroyed], as well as extensive losses in terms of livestock animals, pets and massive crop damage, massive damage to vineyards."

About 200 blazes broke out amid the catastrophic conditions on Friday, including several which reached emergency warning level.

More than 40,000 hectares of land have been blackened by South Australia's bushfires, which include blazes on Kangaroo Island where looting has been reported.

"I did see on social media just a minute ago on the island that somebody's property that was burnt has been looted, so I'm furious about that," the island's mayor Michael Pengilly said.

"There's some evil people around."

South Australia Police said it had received no reports of looting, and had advised anyone concerned about the issue to contact them.

Kym Henley, who runs the Freedom Hills Sanctuary at Harrogate dedicated to caring for neglected farm animals, said looters targeted her property but left empty-handed.

"We were up most of the night. We had two cars come in. We've got camp lights up because we have no water and electricity," she said.

"They saw those lights and they bolted very quickly."

Air pollution reaches 'hazards levels'

Residents across Adelaide have awoken to the strong smell of smoke from the bushfires, including Cudlee Creek which has now been downgraded to watch and act status.

The city's CBD was barely visible from some inner suburbs.

"We're seeing a lot of smoke right across the city this morning and we do have a road weather alert in place for reduced visibility," Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Matt Bass said.

EPA science director Keith Baldry said the agency had advised people with respiratory conditions to remain indoors because air pollution had peaked at six times the national standard.

"This pushed it into hazardous levels," he said in a statement.

"The standard for air pollution is 50 micrograms of PM 10 particles (particles up to 10 micrograms across, or a seventh the diameter of a human hair) per cubic metre.

"Adelaide CBD peaked at 200 micrograms and remains high, while Kensington peaked at 350 at 3:00am, but there the peak levels there were short-lived. Le Fevre Peninsula peaked at 200 at 6:00am, but it is now improving."

SA Health acting chief officer Chris Lease said the pollution was posing a health risk.

"We are urging people to stay indoors, stay hydrated and reduce their exposure to smoky air," Dr Lease said.

"Smoke particles can aggravate existing health problems such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma and heart conditions.

"People with these conditions are most at risk, and should stay indoors as much as possible until the smoke clears and make sure they follow their personal management plans."

Footage of the Cudlee Creek bushfire, shot from a helicopter, showed at least one property alight following a flare-up in Gumeracha this afternoon.

Water bombers were dispatched to help in the fight to control the blaze.

There was another flare-up earlier today in a Mount Torrens paddock. A watch and act alert remains in place for the fire.

Blazes burning at Duncan, on Kangaroo Island, and at Pascoe Road near Coonalpyn, also remained at watch and act level.

There is a severe fire danger rating today in the Mount Lofty Ranges, which includes the Adelaide Hills fireground.

"The Cudlee Creek fire is still uncontained," Country Fire Service (CFS) spokeswoman Ali Martin told ABC Radio Adelaide.

"We had some flare-ups yesterday which were concerning so we've sent water bombers in there as well as several ground crews to help contain those.

"Today we've got severe fire danger which will bring with it some higher winds and higher temperatures, so it's certainly not over unfortunately."

CFS chief officer Mark Jones said it was believed the fire was started by a tree falling on power lines, but investigations were continuing.

"The weather forecast of course was catastrophic and regrettably that led to fires of catastrophic nature," he said.

"It wouldn't have mattered if we'd had more resources. The difficulty of the terrain makes it very difficult to get the firefighters close to the fires."

Wine region gutted by fire worse than Pinery

Residents of evacuated fire regions have begun to return home but are being confronted by scenes of devastation.

"Some people yesterday returned to their homes to find nothing there," the Premier said.

"The ferocity of the fires over the last three days has been extraordinary.

"Right on the eve of Christmas, it couldn't come at a worse time."

Police officer Alex Zimmerman, who led the recovery after the deadly 2015 Pinery bushfire, has been appointed to steer the recovery effort for Adelaide Hills bushfire victims.

"Of utmost priority to me is to establish a support network, the recovery committee, and to start working on what those communities need, what those individuals need," he said.

"We can't forget those three people in a serious condition in hospital.

"The scale of this is easily going to approach and probably eclipse the losses in Pinery from a property perspective.

"For this particular disaster — and that's all we can call it — we have a huge diversity of businesses affected."

One of the biggest economic impacts of the fires is likely to be on the Adelaide Hills wine producers.

"What we do know is that in this burn-out zone there are some 1,100 hectares of grapevines planted throughout this section of the Adelaide Hills," said wine region chief Jared Stringer.

"That makes up about a one-third of the entire production of the Adelaide Hills wine region.

"Some vineyards have been completely wiped out."

Mr Stringer said it was unclear "what can be salvaged still for this coming year's harvest".

'Please ask for help', Mayor urges residents

Winemaker Lachlan Allen said he was still coming to terms with the destruction.

"These are 20-year-old vines we put a lot of work into. It was a bit hard to swallow. We just had to get on with it. Saturday, we still had a lot of spot fires just smouldering away," he said.

"If we're going down the worst case scenario, potentially replacing the entire vineyard, we may not get another vintage until 2021 or 2022 back out of these crops. Fingers crossed we may get it up and running again."

While cherry orchards have survived, growers have other problems.

"The fires … have kept a lot of people away and our cherries are getting overripe, which means we will lose the biggest part of our crop," Lavianto Cherries said on Facebook.

Recovery centres have been established at locations including Balhannah and a recovery hotline on 1800 302 787.

"As we come towards Christmas, it is that Christmas spirit that people want to help you, so please come forward and ask for help," said Mount Barker Mayor Ann Ferguson.

Volunteering SA is taking registrations for those who want to support affected communities, and the Lobethal Bushfire Recovery group is also accepting donations.

The State Government today announced it had set-up a relief fund to allow people to donate cash to help victims of the Adelaide Hills blaze.

Donations can be made via cheque, bank transfer or cash through any Commonwealth Bank branch.

Foodland also announced today it will donate $500 Foodland gift cards to each family that has lost a home as a result of the bushfires.

Topics: bushfire, fires, disasters-and-accidents, emergency-incidents, sa, adelaide-5000, charleston-5244, cudlee-creek-5232, lobethal-5241, woodside-5244, maitland-5573, penneshaw-5222, australia

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