Hundreds of property owners have ignored orders by their council to get their blocks bushfire ready

Many rural property owners seem to have forgotten the devastation of last summer’s bushfires, with hundreds ignoring orders to clear their blocks.

More than 700 property owners have ignored orders to clean up their blocks in the lead-up to the state’s bushfire season.

In many cases, councils have been forced to step in and clear the dry growth to help protect their communities from bushfire threats this summer.

Exactly one year after the devastating Cudlee Creek bushfires, a Sunday Mail survey has found an alarming 705 property owners across 11 councils have failed to abide by a clean-up notice.

More than half of those owners have been slapped with a $315 fine and dozens have been billed for the work councils have undertaken.

Kangaroo Island Council has issued 400 clean-up notices and is now doing follow-up checks.

Mayor Michael Pengilly said it was “bloody outrageous” that after last year’s devastating bushfires, property owners still were not doing the right thing.

“The point I’d make is you should not have to send out notices or issue fines at all,” he said.

“With what Australia went through last summer, what’s wrong with these people? They don’t deserve to own their property.”

Kangaroo Island mayor Michael Pengilly: “With what Australia went through last summer, what’s wrong with these people? They don’t deserve to own their property.” Picture: Brad Fleet

Mr Pengilly said there was no excuse for properties to not be cleared of overgrown grass, with plenty of contractors available to do the work.

“We have something like 2000 absentee ratepayers over here and a lot do the right thing, but the ones who don’t need heavy penalties,” he said.

“And the penalties need to be increased because they are endangering the whole community.”

The Sunday Mail reported last month that councils had issued 4368 clean-up notices, which was a 12.2 per cent increase on the 3892 notices handed out at the same time last year.

Salisbury Council has had 165 homeowners ignore the request – the highest of all the councils – and has issued 95 fines. Yankalilla is close behind, with 158 property owners failing to comply, but is yet to issue any fines. Playford has issued fines to 150 homeowners.

CFS regional commander Brenton Hastie said removing flammable growth and having a bushfire-safety plan was a property owner’s best defence against a fire.

“Because people don’t recognise the risk of not doing this, they have to be issued with a fine,” he said. “Councils don’t do that lightly.”

Mr Hastie urged people to create a defendable 20m space around their home by slashing overgrown grass and removing leaves, grass and bark from gutters and yards.

He said homeowners needed a plan to access tank water for sprinkler systems, because in the event of a fire, they could not rely on mains water supply.

A Sunday Mail survey has found an alarming 705 property owners across 11 councils have failed to abide by a clean-up notice.

In the Adelaide Hills Council, which last summer had bushfires destroy and damage hundreds of homes, farms and businesses, 19 property owners have failed to comply with a clean-up notice. The council is in the process of issuing fines and engaging a contractor to do the clean-up work.

At Gawler, 18 property owners have ignored the clean-up request, while at Victor Harbor, there are 30 properties still waiting to be cleared.

Tea Tree Gully has 10 properties, Burnside 26, Onkaparinga 80, Mitcham 12 and Campbelltown 37.

Mount Barker has issued 378 notices and is in the process of conducting its second round of compliance inspections.