SA warned of high fire risk

The warning comes as statistics showed SA Country Fire Service volunteer numbers had dropped by 1282, to 13,271 in the past five years.

Of these 10,359 were firefighters with 774 cadets and 2138 operational staff.

The number of firefighters had dropped by 178, with the remainder cadets and support staff.

Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire obtained the documents under Freedom of Information laws.

"I've been told the CFS were struggling to get volunteers and wanted to see for myself what the actual numbers were on the ground," he said.

But CFS preparedness operations director Leigh Miller said statistics did not tell the full story.

He said many of these were people who had not been operational for many years.

"This doesn't mean there are any less firefighters, it means our records have been scrutinised and cleaned up," he said.

Mr Miller said while the number of volunteer firefighters were not a concern, the potential length of the fire season was.

"People get tired of firefighting," he said.

"By the end of the summer it gets to be very wearying.

"But as it is, firefighters are well-prepared."

Mr Miller said the season had begun up to three weeks early for the 15 regions across SA, following a dry spring.

"We've been advised by the Bureau of Meteorology that soil dryness throughout the state is six weeks to two months ahead of normal," Mr Miller said.

He said the season, which was launched earlier this week, resembled a situation more commonly seen in February.

"We've had a very dry spring this year which is the reason soil moisture is so low," he said.

"The grass has dried out earlier and fire behaviour has been unusual."

In October a CFS volunteer, Andrew Harrison, died from severe burns after fighting a bushfire at Nantawarra in the Mid North.

Mr Miller said callouts for this year's fire season were up 10 per cent.

"When we have weather like we've had in the past month we do see elevated fire behaviour," he said.

The Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre highlighted regions in Australia likely to have elevated risk this year.

"All of the SA agricultural areas are where our fire risks are this year," he said.

Danger increased in areas with high fire risk and high populations such as the Mount Lofty region and the lower Eyre Peninsula.

* Full report in Stock Journal, December 4, 2014 issue.