Port Lincoln to model bushfire prevention and recovery plans on Adelaide Hills

Heart-broken Port Lincoln locals say they know they can’t stop future bushfires but they are working on a plan to make sure they are better prepared next time.

Port Lincoln will model its bushfire prevention and recovery plans on the Adelaide Hills after locals were left reeling from another devastating bushfire.

Port Lincoln Council chief executive Matthew Morgan says he will look to follow the lead of Hills communities and focus the town’s bushfire modelling on increasing community resilience.

“This community has had several fires over the last 10 or 15 years,” Mr Morgan told the Sunday Mail, as he stood among the town’s still smouldering rubbish dump.

“If we can support and develop a bit more community resilience around their own planning, and community-led planning, that’s going to make us stronger and be able to respond quicker to these events.”

The fire broke out on Thursday when power infrastructure faulted and burned through 142 hectares of land around Port Lincoln, destroying 16 properties including a home.

It left many locals searching for answers about how often they will have to battle blazes to save their homes.

City of Port Lincoln CEO Matthew Morgan at the burnt-out Port Lincoln Resource and Recovery Centre. Picture: Robert Lang

As part of the council’s new emergency management plan, Mr Morgan said he would work with Housing SA and other organisations to speed up the response time to establish a relief centre during bushfires, after locals were left without clear direction on where to go during Thursday’s blaze.

“They have responsibilities under the State Emergency Management Plan for relief centres,” Mr Morgan said.

“It’s around how do we activate those quicker so when CFS as a control agency calls for a relief centre to be activated, how do we support and work with Housing SA to do that and do that in a quick manner so the community knows where to go.”

Eventually, the council established its own care and comfort centre for residents at a local bowling club.

“It’s around the co-ordination with other agencies, particularly around relief centres, care and comfort centres,” Mr Morgan said.

“It’s just around ensuring that we support people to...know where they go when they evacuate their homes.”

“There’s a lot of focus on encouraging people to implement and activate their bushfire plans.”

Mr Morgan said the council would continue to work with the Environment Department and other authorities to explore land clearing to assist in the town’s bushfire prevention plans as locals called for more to be done to prevent bushfires.

“You’ll never stop bushfires,” Mr Morgan said.

“You can plan for them and there’s a multi-layer approach to planning for bushfires.”

Melissa Chambers with dogs Jasper and Romeo at EP Dogz Boarding Kennels on Proper Bay Road, Port Lincoln. Picture: Robert Lang

Around the corner from the burning dump, EP Dogz Boarding Kennel owner Melissa Chambers made the tough decision to sell her business after 14 years, with the stress of four bushfire evacuations in that time playing a significant part.

“Every time it happens it’s still scary,” Ms Chambers said over the barks and whines of dogs spending the weekend at the kennel.

As the blaze closed in on Ms Chambers’ business on Thursday, she was faced with the tough task of evacuating more than 20 cats and dogs and rehousing them around town while fielding dozens of calls from their distressed owners.

“They were as high as the building,” Ms Chambers said, recalling the flames approaching.

“I f**king s**t myself.”

With the help of family and friends, Ms Chambers was able to get all the animals to safety, but after living through several bushfires, Thursday’s events took its toll.

“So much goes through your mind,” she said. “I just have to keep my s**t together.”

Ms Chambers was one of the many lucky locals whose homes and businesses narrowly escaped the fire’s clutches, but others weren’t so fortunate.

Close to where the blaze broke out, the small building housing the Eyre Peninsula Waldorf School Initiative, a not-for-profit focused on providing alternative education for children, was completely destroyed.

“We feel devastated,” the initiative’s chair Renee Perchard said.

“It’s all of the time and blood, sweat and tears.”

Mostly, Ms Perchard said she felt for the 25 or so children who attended the school.

“It’s this incredible sadness for them that their space is so unrecognisable,” she said.

‘More needs to be done’: Locals demand action

When a bushfire ripped through Teena Waters’ property over a decade ago, she went about putting in place a plan to make sure she was always prepared.

In summer at the peak of fire season, she’d load her truck up with spare clothes, food and mementos so all she had to do was hook up a trailer and get her horses out.

“Until the first one I’d never thought about bushfires,” she said.

But on Thursday, she wasn’t prepared for the inferno that tore towards her home before she knew what had happened.

Teena Waters at her damaged property "Top Dog Boutique" in Port Lincoln, which was ravaged by fire on February 16 2023. Picture: Robert Lang

“There’s nothing I could have done,” she said assessing her property’s damage, which she puts in the hundreds of thousands.

Thankfully her home survived the blaze – but only just.

On Friday, the CFS confirmed dozens of properties had been impacted in the blaze which burnt 142 hectares after faulty power infrastructure sparked the inferno.

“This fire from the moment it started, started within 80 to 100 metres from the first property that was impacted,” CFS chief officer Brett Loughlin said.

“It is the truest definition of what we call an impact fire.”

He said the “lifesaving” work of firefighters “could not be understated”.

Teena’s burnt back lawn paints a vivid picture of how close she came to losing everything.

As the blaze raced towards her 10-acre property on Port Lincoln’s outskirts, Teena managed to get her beloved horses to safety but found herself cut off and unable to defend her own home.

“It was just so quick,” she said.

“All I could think was to get out.

“Get my horses, get my dogs.”

Teena Waters at her damaged property "Top Dog Boutique" in Port Lincoln, which was ravaged by fire on February 16. Picture: Robert Lang

The fire claimed her shed and much of her backyard.

“It was just too fierce,” she said.

Inside her home, soot and ash covered everything from floor to ceiling.

Nothing was spared, with the house left blackened and smelling of smoke.

Unable to return to her property after relocating her horses to the town’s racecourse, Teena was forced to watch on helplessly unsure if she would have a home to return to.

“The worst was sitting down there and not knowing,” she said.

On Friday, with the help of friends and family, Teena began the painful process of cleaning up her home.

Just above Teena’s property, a property perched on the hilltop by the town’s smouldering rubbish dump was totally ravaged by the blaze.

“I looked up and I thought, ‘Where’s his house?’” Teena said.

That home was left in ruin, with piles of twisted metal all that was left of a life.

It was the only home destroyed in the blaze.

A few kilometres up the road, transport company owner Annette Harder stayed at her 66-acre property to fight off the seventh or eighth bushfire she has seen at her home in three decades.

“I’d rather burn than leave,” she said.

Once Annette heard the news a fire had sparked just up the road, her mind flashed back to the 2009 fire which tore through her entire property and almost claimed her home.

“That mentally affected me for a long time,” she said.

“I would hear a fire engine and start crying.”

But a flip switched when she saw the blaze jump the road and reach her property.

“I went into overdrive,” she said.

Annette was lucky this time around, with only about $8000 worth of fencing but she knows it could have been worse.

“They really need to do something about the fires,” she said.

Teena also wants more done to try and prevent future disasters, like clearing more vegetation.

“That whole hill is all scrub,” she said.

“It just goes like wildfire, there’s no stopping it.

“When it’s that thick you can’t get through, it just goes.

“I can’t see why they can’t have a few fire breaks.”

Port Lincoln Mayor Diana Mislov. Picture: Rob Lang

Port Lincoln Mayor Diana Mislov, who has seen several bushfires herself, said she was frustrated so little had been done to prevent fires over the years.

“More needs to be done,” she said.

“There’s got to be some sort of happy medium.”

Despite locals’ frustrations, Teena’s grateful she didn’t lose more.

“Onwards and upwards,” she said.