Sampson Flat and Tantanoola Bushfires

The Hon. T.T. NGO (17:36): I move:

That this council—

1. Acknowledges with gratitude the inspirational efforts of the emergency services staff and volunteers in fighting the Sampson Flat and Tantanoola bushfires which resulted in the declaration of a major emergency on 3 January 2015;

2. The dedication and professionalism demonstrated by SA emergency personnel and their colleagues from New South Wales and Victoria over the six days before the fire was contained prevented much worse destruction and any loss of life; and

3. Also acknowledges the work of the many agencies, community groups and individuals involved in establishing and running the relief centres at Golden Grove, Sandy Creek, Willaston, and later, Gumeracha, and those now still involved in the recovery phase led by the State Recovery Office and the wider community for their enormous generosity during and after the emergency.

On Friday 2 January, while many South Australians were still enjoying their Christmas/New Year break, a number of fires started across the state including one at Sampson Flat and Tantanoola—areas that were declared catastrophic fire districts the previous afternoon. Catastrophic fire danger days have the worst conditions for a bush or grassfire. On these days, if a fire starts and takes hold, it is likely that it will be extremely difficult to control and will take significant firefighting resources and cooler conditions to contain it. Spot fires are likely to start well ahead of the main fire and can result in the fire spreading rapidly. The ember attacks which start these spot fires can come from many directions.

Through the Friday and Saturday, this type of fire behaviour was experienced as the Sampson Flat fire intensified threatening the towns of Kersbrook, Gould Creek, Hermitage, Inglewood, Paracombe, Cudlee Creek, Prairie, Gumeracha, Kenton Valley, Birdwood, Forreston, Mount Crawford, South Para and Humbug Scrub. It also threatened the heavily-populated suburbs of Greenwith and Golden Grove.

The Sampson Flat fire, with a perimeter of 222 kilometres, was the most significant in size and danger that has been experienced in the Adelaide Hills since the 1983 Ash Wednesday fire. Close to 200 Country Fire Service brigades from around the state comprising about 3,500 firefighters from around the state came together and joined the fight. The CFS was supported by many other agency staff and volunteers, including hundreds of State Emergency Service staff and volunteers, almost 500 Metropolitan Fire Service firefighters, and significant contributions from SAFECOM, SAPOL, St John, Salvation Army, SAAS, SA Water, ForestrySA, SAVEM and the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources—amongst others. In fact, all tiers of government and community more broadly rallied together against the threat.

This fire burnt over 12,500 hectares and it is truly remarkable that no-one was killed. While it was devastating that 27 homes were lost, this number could have been much higher. Another 34 houses were damaged and 103 buildings destroyed as well as over 200 vehicles.

These fires, while smaller in size, acted as a painful reminder of the 1983 Ash Wednesday fire, especially for many of those Adelaide Hills residents who lived through that fire. The Ash Wednesday fires, as I am sure honourable members are aware, caused great devastation to both life and property, claiming the lives of 28 South Australians, destroying 383 homes as well as burning approximately 208,000 hectares of land. We are extremely grateful that in this case all our volunteer and paid firefighters returned home safely. This is testament to the training and professionalism of the emergency services.

The fire was finally considered contained on 7 January. It must not be forgotten that at the same time as the Sampson Flat fire, CFS staff and volunteers along with ForestrySA were busy fighting the Tantanoola fire in the South-East. The fire had the potential to travel through to the outskirts of Mount Gambier and beyond towards Victoria, impacting the surrounding communities. The Tantanoola fire did not get the attention it would have otherwise received owing to the fires in Adelaide's North-East but it also had the potential to cause widespread damage and loss of life.

Due to the remarkable efforts of firefighters, the Tantanoola fire was quickly contained as it moved out of the plantation forests before it could impact the surrounding communities. It was declared contained on Saturday evening after burning almost 900 hectares.

The state government has committed $21 million in assistance to the communities affected by the bushfires. Ms Karlene Maywald has also been appointed as the Local Recovery Coordinator. Importantly, the community has also pulled together to help their friends and neighbours to recover from the fire and the State Emergency Relief Fund has received almost $1.5 million from 300 generous donors. I know a number of groups with which I have been attending Lunar New Year celebrations have also donated money raised at those events.

At this point, I acknowledge the great support our firefighters received from our interstate colleagues, particularly from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service who sent almost 600 personnel as well as the 280 personnel from the Victorian Country Fire Authority and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. The New South Wales and Victorian governments also contributed 15 firefighting aircraft.

Other jurisdictions also provided offers of assistance and made contingency plans to assist our state if needed for which the government was extremely grateful. Once again, our emergency services and the community banded together against Mother Nature and showed the strength of our state and its communities. I thank the CFS, our emergency services personnel and all those other staff, volunteers, community groups and individuals who came together to help out when our state and community needed them most.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. S.G. Wade.