It takes a special breed of person to volunteer to enter a fireground after a bushfire, but SA Veterinary Emergency Management coordinator Rachel Westcott, Cherry Gardens, is often one of the first allowed in to witness the devastation and help rescue affected animals.
Rachel started SAVEM in 2009 after the Black Saturday bushfires in Vic.
"I took a personal interest there and organised for relief to be sent to veterinary practices in Vic, and then looked into what arrangements we had here in SA for similar events and found them wanting," she said.
SAVEM is a participating agency in PIRSA's Agricultural and Animal Functional Services, along with Primary Producers SA and other groups.
"From anecdotal and academic research, we know that managing animals well in an emergency helps the communities and helps the people," she said. "Once the CFS has got the fireground safe enough, they let us in quite quickly because they know that it really helps the community when they can see that the animals are being cared for."
The SAVEM team have responded to many of SA's worst fires in recent years, including the Sampson Flat, Eden Valley and Rockleigh blazes.
"At the Sampson Flat fire, we were on-site for two weeks and we then ran a mobile team for five weeks after that," she said.
"There were some uplifting stories, but a lot of it was horrible.
"PIRSA do the livestock assessments – and they do that very well – but we'll back them up if they need us to continue with treating livestock until the roads are open for private vets to get in.
"There's quite a lot of sheep and cattle out there, and the impact was pretty horrific on a lot of the wildlife. I think a lot of people don't realise how confronting it is."
So often the helper in times of bushfire emergency, vet and PhD student Rachel Westcott has become the one asking for help.
She is completing a PhD through the University of Western Sydney investigating how communities manage animals during bushfires, and is appealing for help from farmers and town residents on the Eyre Peninsula.
Lower EP animal owners - those with a flock of thousands, a herd of hundreds or a single four-legged friend - are being asked to take part in her study through a discussion group and survey.
She believes talking to animal owners will help identify areas of improvement in bushfire prevention and response.
"Animals owners are a group that have not been asked about their experiences, their special needs and what they think works and what needs to be done," she said.
"Talking to the producers on EP is something I'm really looking forward to, because I think they're going to have a tremendous amount to offer."
Residents from across the lower EP are encouraged to participate, with Rachel focusing on the region because of its diversity of animal ownership and experience with tragic bushfires. The discussion groups - which will be held in communities across the region - will take no more than 90 minutes, with the follow-up survey to be developed based on discussion group outcomes.
She said gathering information from animal owners would help improve bushfire response tactics.
"The wellbeing of the animal, and how the animal is managed is really integral to how people manage," she said. "With bushfires becoming more frequent and more fierce, hopefully we're going to find better ways to manage that threat, because we're going to need to keep up."
She said the message highlighting the importance of preparing a bushfire plan and minimising on-farm hazards was getting through.
"Some people have great plans - it's all in writing and they practice - but that's not common," she said. "The farmers are great - they've usually got the plan in their head and they know what they're doing. They usually manage things extremely well, given that they have their own fire units and know how to quickly move their stock."
