Two men are expected to be charged and a family of three have been taken to hospital after a grass fire burnt through 33 hectares of grass in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.
Police said emergency services responded to the fire at 2:30pm on Saturday after reports it had been sparked by an angle grinder.
A Watch and Act was initially issued for the fire at Penfield that was burning in a south-easterly direction towards Womma Road, Andrews Road, Bellchambers Road, Stebonheath, Elizabeth Park and Elizabeth South.
SA Country Fire Service (CFS) volunteers on 38 trucks were supported by Metropolitan Fire Service and Ventia Fire from the nearby Edinburgh RAAF base.
The grass fire at Penfield burned near glass houses. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)
CFS deputy group officer Thomas Walsh said crews managed to contain the fire but would continue to monitor overnight under changing weather conditions.
“The wind had a significant impact,” he said.
“In this situation where we had those bigger paddocks, we were able to get those fixed-wing water bombers in.
“We also had the Black Hawk helicopter which did a number of drops and was able to help crews to make sure we contained the fire as quickly as possible.”
Thomas Walsh says the grass fire burnt through 33 hectares. (ABC News)
The blaze damaged a shed and several glasshouses while it razed across large areas of grass.
The threat of the grass fire was reduced and the advice was downgraded at 4:50pm.
SA Ambulance Service’s Nathan Parks said six members of the public were being treated by paramedics, and three of those were taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital.
“The three patients we’ve transported through to hospital was a family next to where the fire started, trying to defend their own home,” he said.
“The husband and wife have been transported with smoke inhalation, and their 20-year-old daughter was transferred with heat exhaustion from trying to defend her house.”
Three people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)
Mr Parks said paramedics helped firefighters with “eye irrigation and treatment as required when they come off the fireground”.
He said paramedics were checking on about 200 elderly residents in a nearby residential care facility.
“We’re doing a sweep through there, there’s 20 vulnerable patients that we’re currently checking and hopefully they’re all OK and nothing would come of it,” he said.
A Waterloo Corner man and a Penfield man, both aged 31, were arrested at the scene and are expected to be charged with bushfire-related offences.
“Police would like to remind the public as we head into fire danger season that police will take a zero-tolerance approach to fires caused by deliberate, reckless or negligent behaviour — bushfires not only destroy communities and properties but have the potential to kill,” a SA Police spokesperson said in a statement.
CFS has advised people in the area of the risk of smoke-reducing visibility and falling trees and branches.