Farmers and landholders across the state were on high bushfire alert as the mercury sailed past 40 degrees Celcius on Sunday, with people's worst fears being realised as a number of blazes broke out, including the Cherry Gardens fire.
Having started shortly after 4pm on Sunday at Hicks Hill Road - with the cause yet to be determined - the Cherry Gardens fire spread in a north-easterly direction towards Longwood, Bradbury, Mylor, Jupiter Creek and Biggs Flat.
The fire burnt more than 2500 hectares, before being contained at 7pm on Monday evening, after significant rainfall assisted the firefighting efforts of 500 Country Fire Service personnel.
Two homes were destroyed in the fire, as well as 17 other buildings, while 60 homes were saved. As of Wednesday, PIRSA was unaware of any stock losses.
Silver Angus stud principal Richard Koral, Jupiter Creek, considers himself lucky that only 6ha of his 120ha property was burned in the Cherry Gardens fire, but said without the help of CFS crews, the damage would have been much worse.
"The courage and selflessness these CFS guys and girls have is extraordinary," he said.
"Our property is on the eastern side of Mount Bold Reservoir, so when the fire started, I jumped on the (Bureau of Meteorology) website to see which way the wind was going to come, and I knew straightaway that we were going to have some problems."
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Mr Koral immediately started moving his 90 head of cattle - including cows, calves, and 14 stud bulls - from the southern paddocks up to yards that were close to the homestead on the northern end of the property.
"By 5.30pm on Sunday the fire was coming up the hill at Mount Bold Reservoir, but the CFS and MFS had a fire engine next to every house by then, and there were plenty of water drops happening at that time as well.
"When you see a CFS unit rock up, you just get a bit braver, because those guys know what they're doing. If those guys aren't around, you don't have the courage."
By late on Sunday night, Mr Koral estimated about 20 CFS trucks were present on Todd Road, which runs between his property and the reservoir.
"The CFS tried to keep the fire in the reservoir as much as possible, because further east of that, the terrain is undulating, there is more fencing and scrub in the paddocks, so it would be a bit all over the place if it got to there," he said.
On Monday morning, the fire jumped Todd Road on the north-eastern side of the property, but CFS efforts once again "saved the day", according to Mr Koral.
"They were here fighting the fire long and hard, the winds were howling at certain stages, but luckily the wind stopped, and the rain came at about 2pm on the Monday, that made such a difference and was such an emotional relief as well," he said.
Tuesday was spent moving stock back out into paddocks, tidying up, and fixing a few fences which were cut in the firefighting effort.
"Yes we lost a bit, but we weren't burnt out, our hay and silage is intact, and our home and infrastructure is all still in place, solely because of the hard work the CFS guys did out the back."
Other smaller blazes which broke out on Sunday included fires at Tilley Swamp (650ha), Shea-Oak Log (20ha), and very small blazes at Clarendon and Gumeracha which were contained almost immediately.
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