Jessica Adamson | Fire danger this summer is shockingly high – so how do we stop SA burning?
We’re going into one of the worst summers for fire danger in a long time, writes Jessica Adamson. So how can we stop a repeat of the bushfires that have devastated the state?
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It was the panic in their voices that caught my attention.
Friday, January 3, 2020, and Kangaroo Island was ablaze.
Almost 150,000 hectares was already burnt in what was described as a “virtually unstoppable” fire.
A devil’s inferno amid shifting winds and searing temperatures.
It was 7.03pm and I’d just stepped out of the news studio when the urgent calls from CFS group officers caused me to stop and check a screen monitoring their activity.
Respond Structure Fire, it said. ALARM LEVEL: 1 @Southern Ocean Lodge, 390 Hanson Bay Rd. Staff are in Fire Bunker. Building is on Fire.
I couldn’t process what I was reading. What bunker? What staff and how many? How terrified must they be with the thick and wild bushland, all around them, raging?
They’d evacuated their guests and in the most hellish of conditions, hoped and prayed for the best, in a concrete bunker that had never truly been put to the test.
We now know of course that those six staff members from the luxurious Southern Ocean Lodge all survived, despite the firestorm roaring over them five times, from every angle.
It was a great escape from a beast of a blaze that devastated almost half of Kangaroo Island and claimed the lives of father and son, Dick and Clayton Lang.
Bushfires are part of Australia’s DNA. They’ve shaped the way we look for millions of years, Mother Nature’s firm hand in regenerating bushland and natural life cycles.
But the scars from catastrophic fires run deep in our rural communities.
As the mercury rises this week, and we head into one of the most dangerous seasons in recent times, we mustn’t forget what’s at stake – physically, emotionally and financially.
A drier spring has soil moisture levels at a near-record low, El Nino’s bringing hot and dry conditions and there’ve been limited opportunities to reduce fuel loads with burn-offs.
From Premier Peter Malinauskas last month: “We’ve not seen the type of conditions that we expect this summer in our state for a long time.”
The earlier than usual fires in Queensland, NSW and the Northern Territory recently should be a red flag for us all.
Fortunately we have our biggest aerial fleet ever, ready to pounce from the Adelaide Hills, Port Lincoln, the Mid North and South-East thanks to increased state government funding.
The CFS has contracted 28 aircraft including four Blackhawk helicopters from Aerotech, a bold and innovative South Australian-based company.
The business was founded 55 years ago by Bob and Pam McCabe at Tintinara in the South-East to help service local farmers with aerial applications for their crops.
Now, led by their son Sam and wife Jessica, Aerotech is a brilliant local success story employing more than 130 people.
Marine oil spills, helicopter emergency medical services, agricultural operations, lighthouse inspections and aerial crane work for construction are all part of their charter.
Recently they used a helicopter to transfer millions of yellowtail kingfish fingerlings from a hatchery at Arno Bay to sea pens in the Spencer Gulf.
But it’s their firefighting resources with cutting-edge technology that’s attracting global attention.
The company has sent four bombers to Bordeaux in France and two Blackhawks to Sumatra, Indonesia this year to help battle massive pine forest and peat fires. Two planes and two helicopters have also been dispatched to the Queensland and NT fires.
Protecting SA is priority one for Aerotech and the fleet’s $4 million ex-US military Blackhawks, repurposed for firefighting, are a gamechanger.
They’re quick to fire up, have a cruise speed of 360km/h and can dump 4000 litres of water in one load. In just 35 seconds they can refill from a dam, lake or tank.
Complemented by the fixed-wing bombers, the expanded fleet’s “rapid initial attack strategy” aims to hit a fire when it’s small and can be the difference between a minor incident and a full-scale emergency.
Blackhawks are used to combat wildfires in the US, particularly in California, but Aerotech’s investment and commitment in bringing them down under is an Australian first.
All South Australians, including the volunteers on the fire ground, are the beneficiaries.
Our aerial fleet and thousands of CFS volunteers are ready to go. Together they make a powerful defence, but they can’t do it alone.
So, as we brace for the summer ahead, how can we all play a role in keeping SA safe?
Thirty years ago, SA Police launched Operation Nomad, an Australian first.
Last year it investigated 53 suspicious fires and of those, 26 were determined to be deliberately lit. Four people were arrested and seven reported.
If convicted, these people, who choose to put the lives and livelihoods of others at risk for their sick gratification, should feel the full force of the law – life behind bars.
At the beginning of last year’s fire season, police identified 83 persons of interest to “watch” as best they could for suspicious behaviour. They’re compiling an updated list now.
New laws allow some to be monitored electronically but it’s up to us as a community to help police by being the eyes and ears for deliberate, reckless and negligent behaviour.
There’s so much at stake for SA this summer. Most important is lives. It’s early November and we’re already mourning deaths on Australia’s east coast including three members of an aerial firefighting crew.
And then there’s the economy. Our predicted crop harvest of around 9 million tonnes is worth several billion dollars. We cannot afford to lose it.
SA’s tourism industry is getting back on its feet after Covid. The visitor economy has grown by a record-breaking $3.8 billion to $9.9 billion dollars in 12 months – imagine what we could achieve with a catastrophe free holiday season.
We must stand behind our tourism operators, our farmers, vignerons, restaurant and cafe owners by doing our bit to prepare, plan and be vigilant.
And it starts now, before it’s too late.
Next month on December 6, almost two years after it was destroyed, Kangaroo Island’s magnificent new-look Southern Ocean Lodge – SOL 2.0 – will welcome its first guests.
Twenty-five luxurious guest suites now have even better views of the ocean and wilderness.
A 20m buffer of coastal mallee has been cleared from around the lodge and replaced with fire-retardant succulents and native juniper. A state-of-the-art sprinkler system can be activated remotely thanks to a CCTV system.
The opening is a pivotal moment in the community’s healing – a beacon of resilience and hope.
And a reminder to us all of the risks we face simply by being Australian.
Cornes: Has anyone at West Lakes dared to mention it yet?
The Crows’ whole strategy this year has been to not get ahead of themselves, but has anyone at West Lakes dared to mention that, from here, the Crows could win the flag? Writes Graham Cornes.
Women need to step back so men can step up
Let’s detonate maternal guilt once and for all – not a protest for protest’s sake but as recognition of the radical idea that sharing the load is the fairest route to a happy family, writes Angela Mollard.