The Fire Danger Season in the Mt Lofty Ranges has been extended to the end of May, (due to finish at end of April. Al other areas remain the same.
Media release from HQ below:
SA Country Fire Service (CFS) has extended the Fire Danger Season for the Mount Lofty Ranges Fire Ban District.
Although the Fire Danger Season for this district was due to end on 30 April, this extension will now see the season officially end at midnight Thursday, 31 May 2007.
The Fire Danger Season has already ended for nine of the state’s fifteen fire ban districts.
The remaining six fire ban districts, Adelaide Metropolitan, Kangaroo Island, Mid North, Yorke Peninsula, Lower South East and the Mount Lofty Ranges, are still subject to Fire Danger Season regulations.
Besides the Mount Lofty Ranges, the Fire Danger Season in the remaining districts will finish at midnight Monday, 30 April 2007.
CFS Manager of Prevention Services, Leigh Miller, said that the Mount Lofty Ranges has received below average rainfall and the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast no significant rainfall for the next three months.
‘Soil and vegetation dryness is greater than it was this time last year and these elements increase the risk of fire,’ Leigh said.
‘The extension of the Fire Danger Season in the Mount Lofty Ranges is a necessary precaution. We are simply not confident of ceasing fire restrictions when we know the threat of bushfire is still very real,’ he said.
Since 2001 CFS has responded to 464 fires in the Mount Lofty Ranges and surrounding areas, started by burnoffs outside of the fire danger season.
This is an average of 77 each year and CFS is attempting to reduce the chance of fire escape by extending the fire danger season in the Mount Lofty Ranges.
Until the Mount Lofty Ranges experiences significant rainfall, any fires in bushland are likely to exhibit unusual and unpredictable fire behaviour due to the extreme dryness of soils and fuel.
With the extension of the fire danger season in this district people need to apply to their local council to obtain a permit to conduct a burn. These permits will specify what safety provisions need to be undertaken.
For 24 hour advice on fire restrictions and fire bans, please contact the CFS Bushfire Hotline on 1300 362 361 or visit
www.cfs.sa.gov.au.
