Fire rips through South Australia

South Australia state Premier Jay Weatherill said two bodies have been recovered and a report remains unconfirmed of a third person killed when a vehicle hit a tree in the razed rural area.

The blaze swept across more than 85 000ha of cropland, destroying numerous buildings and injuring an unspecified number of people, including firefighters, the Australian Associated Press reported.

CFS chief officer Greg Nettleton said the total perimeter of the fire was 211 km.

About 13,000 hectares of land was destroyed, mostly heavily wooded forest or scrub.

More than 250 firefighters are on the frontline, which is being fanned by winds at up to 60km/h, and around 19 aircraft have been deployed, including two water bombers from NSW – the DC10 Southern Belle, and the Hercules air tanker Thor.

The fires, which stretch across 210 kms (130 miles), broke out on Wednesday in heatwave conditions and quickly burnt across farmlands, forcing residents to flee and others to frantically try and save their homes and livestock. Many roads were closed with power cut to about 20,000 properties.

Overnight the weatherconditions abated from what wesaw throughout yesterdayafternoon.

Both fires were sparked amid catastrophic conditions with high temperatures and strong winds, with the current blaze staggering fire crews with its speed.

Bureau of Meteorology acting regional director John Nairn said weather conditions on Wednesday would have created very unusual and uncontrollable flare-ups.

Earlier this month at least four people died in fires in Western Australia where a local farmer and three tourists became trapped by an inferno in the Esperance area. The CFS has listed the blaze as “watch and act” at 4pm local time.

An employee at one of the state’s largest pig farms told the broadcaster staff were forced to leave thousands of animals for dead as the blaze approached.

“They tried to save that but it’s no good”.

“It was pretty scary seeing it coming over the hill coming towards work”, he said. The blaze ripped through around 200 hectares of paddocks and stubble near Mintaro.

“We were there with firefighters ready to fight it and we just turned and ran”.