Total fire ban in place across five South Australian districts as Country Fire Service warns of hazardous conditions

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Turning now to South Australia, a total fire ban is in place across five districts. The Country Fire Service is expecting extreme, hazardous fire weather and is urging residents to remain vigilant. Sophie Landau reports.

Transcript

00:00Windy conditions are keeping firefighters on high alert in much of the state, with temperatures

00:08reaching the low 40s in some areas.

00:11There are total fire bans and also an extreme fire danger rating in eastern parts of the

00:17state, including in the mid-north, the Riverland and Murraylands, and the upper and lower southeast.

00:24Now temperatures are going to reach around 40 degrees in Renmark today, where there's

00:29also a severe weather warning for damaging winds, which is along the eastern districts

00:34there.

00:35The Bureau of Meteorology says that wind gusts could reach up to 90 kilometres per hour,

00:41with winds averaging around 60 to 70 kilometres per hour.

00:45And that could impact the ability for firefighters to use their aerial units, so that wind today

00:51is definitely front of mind.

00:53A cool change is on its way.

00:55Temperatures reached Adelaide and fresh gusts and milder temperatures are gradually coming

01:00through Mount Gambier around the middle of the day, Renmark in the afternoon, and the

01:04northeast late this afternoon to evening.

01:07The fire danger will stay elevated, even once that cool change has come through.

01:12So authorities are really urging residents not to be complacent about that.

01:17Even though those temperatures will drop, it's really important that those total fire

01:21bans, they are in place all through until midnight.

01:24And also for travellers who aren't from the state, they're being urged to download the

01:28Alert SA app to stay across the latest information.

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