Satellite images reveal damage caused by fires in Adelaide Hills and on Kangaroo Island
Thousands upon thousands of hectares burnt by fires in SA over the past month have been snapped by satellites – see the before and after images.
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The full extent of the damage wrought on South Australia by large fires over the past month has been revealed in satellite images.
Flinders University has released pictures taken of the Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island before fires struck in December and when satellites passed over again earlier this month.
The images show the tens of thousands of hectares burnt during the Cudlee Creek fire and the first of two fires on Kangaroo Island.
The most recent damage inflicted by a fire which started in a ravine within Flinders Chase National Park on January 3 has only been partially captured because thick smoke and cloud has blocked visibility.
The next satellite is due to pass over the island later next week.
Experts at Flinders University who have examined the satellite images have expressed concern about the amount of damage caused to the southwestern corner of Kangaroo Island.
Virtually all of Flinders Chase National Park has been obliterated, along with large tracts of vegetation around Hanson Bay to the east.
Most physical structures in the area — including the park’s visitor centre, Kangaroo Island Wildness Retreat, Southern Ocean Lodge and Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary — were destroyed by the fire, which swept through the area on January 10.
The Hanson Bay Caravan Park emerged relatively unscathed while two of the Hanson Bay Cabins survived.
Four others, along with several shacks, were flattened by flames and high winds which marched on to wipe out forestry plantations, houses and the former Karrata School.
The fire also destroyed thousands of hectares of native vegetation, especially mallee bushes and other native plants on ancient sand dunes reaching down to the Southern Ocean.
Flinders University strategic professor in coastal studies Patrick Hesp said the fire had exposed the sand dunes to potential erosion.
“The massive fires on Kangaroo Island may result in significant changes to the coastal dunefields,” he said.
“Fires have reduced the vegetation cover so much that it is possible the dunes may be activated by winds in the near future.”
Professor David Bruce, who has examined the satellite images, said the “fire indices over the burnt vegetation on the sand dune systems south of Rocky River show uncharacteristic values, indicative of extreme burning leading to substantial sand and rock exposure”.
The Cudlee Creek blaze burned through 25,000ha and had a perimeter of 185km.
Fires on Kangaroo Island, meanwhile, burned more than 211,255ha of land, with a perimeter of 612km.
