Fire season in the Adelaide Hills, and the fires remembered

The season, year by year

South Australia declares its fire danger season district by district, and the CFS keeps one table of the dates for every fire ban district. The dates appear in the Government Gazette ahead of the season, and once a season starts, the Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 governs what fires may be lit across South Australia until midnight on the final day.

1. 2025/26The CFS table gives the Mount Lofty Ranges season as 1 December 2025 to 30 April 2026. The Adelaide Metropolitan district shared those dates, and the Murraylands district, over the ranges to the east, began earlier, on 1 November 2025, and also finished on 30 April 2026.
2. 2026/27The CFS Chief Officer had declared dates for some fire ban districts when the table was read, and for the Mount Lofty Ranges both the start and the finish were still listed as TBA, to be announced.

The CFS describes a fire danger season as generally running from November to April, with restrictions in force each day to stop fires starting, while Total Fire Bans are declared for particular days when the weather makes fires likely to start or spread. Fire Danger Ratings are published between 4:30 and 5:00 pm for the following day, worked out by the CFS with the Bureau of Meteorology from predicted weather and current observations. A rating is not a prediction that a fire will start; it says how dangerous a bushfire would be if one did occur, and at the top of the scale the CFS’s own label for Catastrophic reads “For your survival leave bushfire risk areas”. The current season’s dates are on the CFS fire danger season dates and permits page.

Which district the Hills are in

The two councils that cover most of the Hills, the Adelaide Hills Council and the Mount Barker District Council, are both regional councils with a CFS authorised officer. The Mount Barker council records that its whole area falls in the Adelaide Mount Lofty Ranges Fire Ban District, with one exception: the township of Callington falls in the Murraylands and Riverland district, SACFS Region 3, whose season was declared to begin on 1 November 2025 and end on 30 April 2026.

Knowing which fire ban district you are in is the first step in finding out which restrictions apply, because the rules are set district by district. The CFS may declare a Total Fire Ban in some districts or across the whole state on days when high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity could make fires uncontrollable, and barbecues and camp fires are banned on those days. Restrictions apply during the fire danger season and on Total Fire Ban days, and they apply to everyone, not only to people who live in high bushfire risk areas.

What closes

The CFS sets out what closes. On a Total Fire Ban day, all open fires, liquid fuel stoves and gas stoves are banned in every park, and parks may be closed to visitors. ForestrySA’s forest reserves are closed to the public on those days , and fires may not be lit in them at all between 1 November and 30 April in any year, dates that can be extended while high fire danger persists. The CFS restrictions page gives the ban on fires in forest reserves, barbecues and camp fires included, as 30 November to 30 April, and says gas barbecues may be allowed in designated areas of the Mount Lofty Ranges forest under certain conditions; in ForestrySA’s reserves the ban begins on 1 November. National and conservation parks set their own rules, and many of them ban wood fires outright.

Cleland National Park, which the parks service says conserves an important area of bushland in the Adelaide Hills face zone, is shut on Catastrophic fire danger days and may shut on Extreme days too. The environment department's facts page for the Heysen Trail records that most of the trail shuts for the fire danger season, and that it is easier walking in the cooler months.

Some fire activities need a permit. An Authorised Officer issues permits for fires and activities in the season, and the CFS says to contact your local council to find your nearest one; for theatrical fire effects and fireworks displays, only the CFS can issue a permit. Above ground fires such as chimineas, fire drums and braziers may be used only with a permit and in line with its conditions. A Schedule 9 permit may be issued for fires or activities in the season on days that are not Total Fire Ban days, and a Schedule 10 permit covers days that are Total Fire Bans; those are intended for emergency use only.

The fires remembered

1. 16 February 1983Ash Wednesday. Fires driven by winds of up to 110 km/h crossed South Australia and Victoria. In South Australia 28 people died, 14 of them in the Hills and 14 in the south east, and 47 people died in Victoria. More than 300 homes were lost, along with a hotel, a service station and 13 historic buildings, and about 208,000 hectares burnt in South Australia and 210,000 hectares in Victoria. The CFS remembers the day as the deadliest in Australian bushfire history until Black Saturday in 2009 , and its bushfire history lists Ash Wednesday II, in February 1983, at 200,000 hectares.
2. 20 December 2019The CFS’s bushfire history sets out the day at Cudlee Creek. The fire started shortly after 9 am and reached Lobethal at 12.05 pm, Woodside at 12.50 pm, Brukunga at 2.45 pm, the Harrogate area at 6.31 pm and Mount Torrens at 7.23 pm. More than 2,000 volunteers responded; the main charge of the fire was pulled up within 24 hours, but breakouts and flare-ups continued for a further ten days, and 85 homes were lost while hundreds were defended, across 23,295 hectares. One life was lost and 51 firefighters were injured, and fire cause investigators suspect the cause was related to power infrastructure. The fire was declared safe on 3 January 2020.

The CFS’s bushfire history carries the rest of the record. Sampson Flat began on 2 January 2015 and burnt uncontrolled for four days, travelling south-east through Kersbrook and Gumeracha and across about 12,600 hectares of homes, businesses, forest, grazing land, vineyards, livestock and properties; it destroyed about 24 houses and 103 sheds and caused 62 firefighter injuries. In January 2021 the Cherry Gardens fire was first reported from the Mount Lofty fire tower, as a smoke column near Orchard Road, and police reported a fire 8 km away; by daylight two houses had been destroyed and 2,149 hectares burnt. The CFS stayed 13 days, declared the fire controlled on 3 February and handed it back to the landowners on 6 February. The Montacute fire, in January 2023, began on the side of Gorge Road and burnt 53 hectares before it was declared safe on 18 January. Black Sunday, on 2 January 1955, was a widespread fire in the Adelaide Hills, with extreme fire weather in Adelaide followed by a strong south-westerly change; two firefighters lost their lives and damage spread over at least 40,000 hectares. The CFS’s list for the 1980s names Ash Wednesday I in February 1980 (3,770 hectares), Horsnell Gully in April 1980 (400 hectares), Black Hill in January 1985 (1,500 hectares) and Morialta in January 1988 (300 hectares). Its history also records that the most widespread fire seasons were 1933-34, 1938-39 and 1943-44, each of which did significant damage in or near the Adelaide Hills. And it quotes research by Luke and McArthur, published in 1977 and 1978, that South Australia can expect serious fires somewhere in the state in six or seven years out of every ten.