Bushfire recovery advances on KI

KI mayor Michael Pengilly chaired the two meetings, along with local recovery coordinator Rob Manton and recovery centre manager Anna Osmon, with about 50 fire-affected farmers and locals attending.

Mr Pengilly said it was good to get people together again and answer questions directly.

Discussions included securing more accommodation for recovery workers and backpackers working on farms in the district.

"There is plans to set up a worker's camp near Parndana to house 40 to 50 people," Mr Pengilly said.

"It's just a temporary solution, a low budget rental option to house any builders, contractors, farm workers, backpackers, and open up accommodations in the town for tourism.

"Its location is still up for discussion, but we would prefer it be near Parndana to assist the local businesses and to have the workers closer to where they need to be.

"But it is probably a little while off yet because you can't do a lot of ground works here in winter, and we're still working through a funding model and who would manage it.

"We also have to make sure the community is comfortable with it."

The clean-up of burnt fencing was also discussed, with farmers told the next phase of debris removal would occur in the next few weeks.

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Questions were also raised about how long BlazeAid would remain on the island to help replace fencing.

Mr Manton said BlazeAid had given a commitment to stay as long as was needed, with enough work to keep volunteers busy until at least Christmas.

Mr Pengilly also gave an update of the Mayoral Bushfire Fund, which raised $5.3 million.

"We have paid out about $2.9m to about 450 applicants," he said.

"We have another meeting this Friday to go through another 20 applications, but I am aware of people that haven't put in applications when they should be. I strongly urge them to do so."

Mr Pengilly was also pleased to announce the Flinders Chase National Park would finally open for self-drive visits on July 4, coinciding with the start of school holidays.

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DESPITE a mountain of clean-up still ahead of him, Parndana livestock producer Sam Mumford can't wait for the day he can put the "mongrel of a fire" that started on December 20 behind him.

The Mumfords lost four of their five grazing properties (more than 2000 hectares), 2.5 houses and five machinery and storage sheds.

"Our properties have a 25-kilometre spread, you would have thought we should have been right not to lose them all," he said.

"But when the fire front was 40km wide, we didn't stand a chance. In our five-mile circle, there was 22 houses. Now there are two."

He also had 747 cattle and 3445 sheep perish in the fires - more than three-quarters of his livestock.

"Five farm fire units managed to save our feedlot and my house - they knew how much we had lost and fought to make sure I didn't lose my house as well," he said.

"In doing that, they helped to save the Parndana township, which is pretty cool."

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Mr Mumford lost a house at Western River on day one of the Ravine fire.

He was loading water bombers on another property and started on a fire truck the very next day.

He didn't stop fighting the fires until January 30.

"It's been challenging," he said.

"But it has also been so humbling the way the community has come together, and the help we have received from the likes of BlazeAid and the Army.

"We lost 97km of fencing and they helped clean up a lot of it.

"Even just last week, BlazeAid were back out here with a posthole knocker."

Mr Mumford said they have only had time to re-fence two properties, so a third was sown to feed.

"We normally crop about 250 hectares, this year we have put in about 800ha," he said.

"We have had a fencing contractor here for the past month, but everything is so slow because there is just still so much to be done."