‘Timely reminder’: More than 25,000 homes without power, extreme fire weather on the way

Nine districts around the state have been warned extreme fire danger is on the way, and relying on power to defend their properties might not be the best choice.

CFS Chief Officer Brett Loughlin warns of extreme fire weather on the way. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Fire services have warned relying on power might not be the best option, with more than 25,000 homes without power in SA and extreme fire weather on its way.

SA Power Outages map showed as of 6.30am on Friday, 27,000 customers across SA were in the dark – most of them the Yorke Peninsula, though there were also outages on KI, Cape Jaffa and the Coorong. By 11am, that number had dipped slightly to just under 26,000.

There had been no fire call-outs as a result of the outage, but CFS chief officer Brett Loughlin said it acted as a “timely reminder” ahead of scorching Saturday temperatures.

“The power situation is a really timely reminder to people,” he said.

Power Outage - Large parts of Yorke Peninsula are without power. Picture: Dean Martin

“It also goes to show that if you have a bushfire survival plan, or even if you haven’t written one down… it does go to show how things can change that might influence your decision making.

“If your plan was to stay and defend and that’s predicated on having power then, the power outage may mean you need to reassess your plans, it might mean you need to leave early.”

Extreme fire danger ratings have been issued for the West Coast, Eastern and Lower Eyre Peninsula, Mount Lofty Ranges, the Yorke Peninsula, the Upper and Lower South East, the Mid North, and Kangaroo Island.

Temperatures in Adelaide are forecast to peak at 39C, with some areas in the state expected to reach the low 40s.

“That kind of temperature has only been recorded a handful of times in the city this far into March, and those records go back 140 years,” meteorologist Jonathan Fischer said.

“We’ve just come out of the state’s second hottest summer on record, and so far this autumn there’s been no let up in that heat.

“It’s now the driest start to the year since 1989.”

Originally published as ‘Timely reminder’: More than 25,000 homes without power, extreme fire weather on the way