Spring prescribed burn season gets underway in South Australia

Prescribed burns will be carried out on 900ha of land on public and private properties this spring to reduce bushfires risks across SA. See the map of upcoming burns.

Key strategic areas across South Australia on both public and private land will be targeted as the State Government starts its spring prescribed burns season to reduce the risk of bushfires.

A total of 90 burns covering roughly 9000ha of land are planned across the state in spring 2021 and autumn 20222.

The prescribed burns will be carried out by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), in partnership with the Country Fire Service (CFS), SA Water and ForestrySA.

It follows a record 96 prescribed burns which were delivered in the 2020/21 season.

Areas of interest include forest reserves in the Adelaide Hills and on Kangaroo Island, park land in York and the Mid North, including the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary National Park, the Naracoote Caves on the Limestone Coast and areas of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges.

The prescribed burn season is separate to council-run prevention works which traditionally commences in November once bushfire season has been declared. 

Minister for Environment and Water David Speirs said the first burns for spring 2021 took place last week on private land in the Adelaide Hills and on the northern Eyre Peninsula.

Around 9000ha of land will be back-burned this spring and autumn season.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MAP OF UPCOMING PRESCRIBED BURNS

“Prescribed burns play an important role to reduce fuel hazards across the landscape which helps reduce the intensity and spread of a bushfire, helping protect property, save lives and provide safer areas for fire fighters to work from,” he said.

“They also play an important role in regenerating habitats for native plants and animals and are carefully planned to minimise environmental impacts.

“Locations are strategically chosen to help build a landscape-scale approach to manage the intensity and extent of future bushfires.”

Mr Speirs said burns would occur on a risk-based matrix to protect high-asset areas such as the Mt Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island.

“We’re always most concerned about the Mt Lofty Ranges because of the population in that area,” he said.

“It’s the backdrop to the capital city here in South Australia, so with so many people and businesses and visitors frequenting that landscape, that’s the area we focus most of our preventive maintenance around national parks.

‘It’s the area where we try to get as many prescribed burns to be safely undertaken as we possibly can (as) the fuel load in the Mt Lofty Ranges, because of the high rainfall in this area, will always be higher than in other parts of the state.”

As for the rest of the state, Mr Speirs said he was expecting a more “manageable” bushfire season.

“Fuel loads are very green at the moment but as we move into spring and winter, we will see the drying off of these fueloads and that does lead to more risk,” he said.

But with the Bureau of Meteorology saying that we could have a wetter spring, and we are experiencing that to date...we are hopeful that our fire season will be more manageable this year as it was in 2020/2021...but you can’t take anything for granted and you’ve got to be prepared.”

The prescribed burns are funded under a five year, $37 million commitment by the state government to significantly increase hazard reduction across the state.

Backburning has become a greater focus since the 2019 Cudlee Creek burhsfires which destroyed 85 homes and consumed 23,295ha of land.

Emergency Services Minister Vincent Tarzia encouraged landholders to work with the Government to reduce bushfire risk.

“It’s crucial we all work together to create a more bushfire resilient South Australia,” he said.

“Protecting lives and property starts with prescribed burns season. Every South Australian has a responsibility to reduce fire hazards around their property, and now is the perfect time to prepare your bushfire survival plan for summer.

“If bushfires do break out, 25 new CFS trucks and 55 state-of-the-art thermal imaging cameras will be in action, delivered as promised by this Government, to keep volunteers safe on the front line.”

The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a wetter than average spring, which could impact the State Government’s ability to complete all its planned burns this season.

The number of prescribed burns that can be safely and effectively completed in any season is subject to a window of specific weather conditions and we will never burn unless a safe and effective outcome can be achieved.