Country Fire Service advises to delay burn offs until cool weather change hits later this week

A scrub fire is burning on Kangaroo Island - with 11 trucks and two aircraft - with scrub fires in Mylor and Ironbank now under control.

A bushfire is burning on Kangaroo Island at Karata near Mount Taylor Rd and Gosse - with eleven fire trucks at the scene.

The CFS has issued a smoke warning to KI residents.

Scrub fires are also burning on the mainland but under control in Mylor and Ironbank with CFS issuing smoke warnings.

The Mylor fire is burning on Stock Rd in the Mount Lofty Ranges, travelling in a South Easterly direction towards the Mylor township and Strathalbyn, Bradbury and Leslie Creek roads as well as Hill and West streets in Mylor.

The CFS issues a watch and act alert at around 1.15pm, but that has since been downgraded to a smoke advice message.

The Ironbank fire near Ironbank, Morgan and Pole roads is also now under control with smoke warnings in place.

40 firefighters also worked hard to contain a fire that started at noon at Two Wells, north of Adelaide.

It’s believed the fire was the result of a burn off on private property in scrubland that got out of hand and destroyed eight unused glass houses, causing thousands dollars in damages.

There have now been close to 30 fires in the past two and a half days which are thought to have started by burn offs that got away from property owners prompting warning from the CFS for people “to be vigilant”.

Higher temperatures across South Australia on Wednesday have come with strong northerly winds – increasing the fire risk overall.

CFS had five aircraft on standby – including three single engine air tankers and two observational aircraft – to support firefighters in the event of a fire escalating.

CFS has advised to hold off on planned burn offs until the cool change hits later this week. Picture: Stephen Laffer

CFS state duty officer Ben Pettman recommended people delay their planned burn offs until the weather changed, as well as check if their recent burn off has cooled.

“Our message to the community is to delay any planned burn offs until after the cool, wet change comes through on Thursday,” he said.

Up to 15mm of rain set to hit the city on Thursday, with up to 10mm tipped for Friday.

“We know bushfires can start as late as May so, while CFS aircraft and volunteer firefighters will be ready to respond if a fire starts, it’s important the community play their part to reduce the risk of rural fires.

“For anyone who recently conducted a burn off, we encourage you to check it has been fully extinguished; for large piles, we suggest pulling apart the pile with a rake or similar equipment to ensure there are no hot pockets.”

Meanwhile, across April and May CFS volunteers who attended a significant number of burn offs reported many property owners were caught off guard or were not properly prepared with ample water supplies to combat out of control fires.

Adelaide recorded its driest run of February-April weather in 100 years and as we approach the end of May, Adelaide’s West Tce rain gauge has only recorded 0.6mm for the month.

Important agricultural areas of the state have also been without much rain and affecting the water available for crops, according to Bureau of Meteorology spokesman climatologist Dr Simon Grainger.