Firefighters remain at the site of a bushfire on the northern fringe of Naracoorte, in South Australia’s south-east, after downgrading its warning to advice level.
The Country Fire Service (CFS) said the bushfire has been burning in inaccessible scrubland and posed no threat to life or property.
Earlier they issued a watch and act warning, urging residents to leave but now advise people to monitor local conditions and stay informed.
CFS state duty controller Scott Haynes said the bushfire had burnt 10 hectares of mainly scrubland since it started around 2:30pm on Wednesday.
He said no houses or shed had been impacted at this stage.
The CFS deployed 21 fire trucks, four bulk water carriers and several firebombing aircraft to protect properties at risk.
CFS deputy duty commander Damien Van der Velde said while the fire has slowed with the work from firefighters, the blaze remained in hard to access scrub.
“It’s in a reasonable populated area with a lot of small rural-living type blocks out there,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide’s Nikolai Beilharz.
“It is mild to warm here in Naracoorte, we’re seeing a slight breeze from the south-west.
“The fire has taken quite well, it’s very dry with a reasonably high fuel load in that area.”
Tanya McCulloch, who owns a hobby farm near the fire, said she evacuated her property feeling worried but has since returned with the intent to keep a watchful eye on the direction the blaze is burning.
“My husband came out, got the dogs,” she said.
“I came home, grabbed photos I know I can’t replaced, got my daughter, got my car and left.”
Guy Redway, who lives on a one-hectare property about 1 kilometre from the fire, said he and his wife were ready to evacuate but fortunately were able to stay home after putting sprinklers on to keep the area around it wet.
Mr Redway says he was glad to see so many helicopters and planes dumping water on the fire.
“By jingo in my days of firefighting way up north in the Tatiara, we had a WWII blitz truck was out firefighting equipment and when those planes started up today I was really, really thankful,” he said.
On the Bureau of Meteorology website, temperatures at Naracoorte have dropped from 30.8 degrees Celsius in the afternoon to about 22 degrees Celsius at 7:30pm.
But wind speeds have picked up from 20 to 30 kilometres per hour.
“We’re working on trying to cease the forward rate of this fire,” Mr Van der Velde said.
“Conditions are changing quite rapidly on the fireground so we are still responding [with] additional resources to the fire but we hope that as soon as possible we’d be able to contain it.”
Some road closures remain in place and CFS advised motorists to check Traffic SA website for the latest updates.
Posted , updated
