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Thoughts go out to All those who have suffered such horrendous loss.
A farmer whose property was caught in the deadly South Australian bushfires has been overwhelmed by the generosity of others in his time of need.
Gary Green has lived on his farm near Templers in South Australia's Mid North for 47 of his 50 years on the planet.
He said he has never seen anything like the firestorm that belted his home on Wednesday afternoon.
"It just went dark with smoke and ash," he said.
"We could see some flame that we tried to put out in the paddock behind home and it was too fierce for us."
Mr Green's parents, who are in their 70s, lost everything when their house a little further down Horrocks Highway at the back of Templers burnt to the ground.
"I think they're coping as well as possible ... they'll stay at my brother's place, he's got spare room there," he said.
Mr Green was still fighting spot fires at his property on Thursday afternoon, a day after the fires had passed through.
A shipping container on his property full of a friend's furniture caught fire and was well ablaze by the time a Country Fire Service crew got there and sprayed what was left of it with retardant foam.
Just 100 metres from the shipping container, the property's shearing shed has been reduced to a pile of scorched corrugated iron.
"We've lost half our sheds," Mr Green said.
"Shearing shed, implements shed, hay shed, chemical shed, Mum and Dad lost their house, everything they've got."
Tractor explodes from intense heat
Another 50 metres from the shearing shed stands the shell of what was an $80,000 tractor Mr Green was using to move bales of straw.
Mr Green thought the machine would be safe parked in an open area between his house and a shed, but he thinks the trees that caught fire around his house were so hot the tractor just burst into flames.
It eventually exploded, sending shattered glass into the veggie patch at the side of his house.
We've had contact from three or four different states and even from Norway.
Gary Green, farmer
News of the extent of the massive Pinery fire, which has burnt more than 82,000 hectares of farm land, has prompted some moving offers of assistance.
A family struggling to meet their own costs of living has offered Mr Green's parents the use of a house if they need it.
Another bloke up the road who lost his house has been offered the house that belonged to a friend's mother.
"We've had contact from three or four different states and even from Norway," Mr Green said.
And what now for Mr Green and his partner Sam?
"Lots of clean-up, lots of tears, and try and start again," he said.
South Australian farmer Bevan Schutz has been shooting injured sheep and gathering dead ones from paddocks to put in mass graves after a bushfire swept through the area just north of Adelaide this week.
His farm is at Eudunda, further east of where the firestorm tore through about 85,000 hectares of farmland on Wednesday.
But he travelled a short distance west to offer his help to farmers making recovery efforts near Stockport.
Fire losses detailed
The dashboard of his ute is scattered with ammunition.
"Yesterday we shot probably 350 to 400 and buried probably about 900 in total — [we are] up to about 300 this morning already," he said.
Mr Schutz lifts his gun and deals with another sheep, as it is barely able to walk across a charred paddock.
Not far away, we see a slow-moving flock of about 100 sheep.
I asked: "How did they survive?"
"[I have] no idea — they avoided the fire somehow," Mr Schutz responded.
Perhaps the sheep that survived the fierce blaze were huddled in the middle of a bigger flock as the fire tore through.
Whatever ensured their survival, they are now a sorry sight in a blackened landscape.
Mr Schutz said it was hard to be sure how many sheep perished in the bushfire but he had heard a suggestion of about 16,000 because "85,000 hectares is a big patch of ground".
One of the farmers he helped out, Phil Duffield, had just about every hectare of his property blackened.
"He's only got about 60 sheep left, I think," Mr Schutz said.
As for the likely recovery time from such devastation, he said "it could take years — he's worked his whole life for this property basically".
"It'll take a a good couple of months to get things going again and it could take years to rebuild the whole place."
Credit ABC News
A farmer whose property was caught in the deadly South Australian bushfires has been overwhelmed by the generosity of others in his time of need.
Gary Green has lived on his farm near Templers in South Australia's Mid North for 47 of his 50 years on the planet.
He said he has never seen anything like the firestorm that belted his home on Wednesday afternoon.
"It just went dark with smoke and ash," he said.
"We could see some flame that we tried to put out in the paddock behind home and it was too fierce for us."
Mr Green's parents, who are in their 70s, lost everything when their house a little further down Horrocks Highway at the back of Templers burnt to the ground.
"I think they're coping as well as possible ... they'll stay at my brother's place, he's got spare room there," he said.
Mr Green was still fighting spot fires at his property on Thursday afternoon, a day after the fires had passed through.
A shipping container on his property full of a friend's furniture caught fire and was well ablaze by the time a Country Fire Service crew got there and sprayed what was left of it with retardant foam.
Just 100 metres from the shipping container, the property's shearing shed has been reduced to a pile of scorched corrugated iron.
"We've lost half our sheds," Mr Green said.
"Shearing shed, implements shed, hay shed, chemical shed, Mum and Dad lost their house, everything they've got."
Tractor explodes from intense heat
Another 50 metres from the shearing shed stands the shell of what was an $80,000 tractor Mr Green was using to move bales of straw.
Mr Green thought the machine would be safe parked in an open area between his house and a shed, but he thinks the trees that caught fire around his house were so hot the tractor just burst into flames.
It eventually exploded, sending shattered glass into the veggie patch at the side of his house.
We've had contact from three or four different states and even from Norway.
Gary Green, farmer
News of the extent of the massive Pinery fire, which has burnt more than 82,000 hectares of farm land, has prompted some moving offers of assistance.
A family struggling to meet their own costs of living has offered Mr Green's parents the use of a house if they need it.
Another bloke up the road who lost his house has been offered the house that belonged to a friend's mother.
"We've had contact from three or four different states and even from Norway," Mr Green said.
And what now for Mr Green and his partner Sam?
"Lots of clean-up, lots of tears, and try and start again," he said.
South Australian farmer Bevan Schutz has been shooting injured sheep and gathering dead ones from paddocks to put in mass graves after a bushfire swept through the area just north of Adelaide this week.
His farm is at Eudunda, further east of where the firestorm tore through about 85,000 hectares of farmland on Wednesday.
But he travelled a short distance west to offer his help to farmers making recovery efforts near Stockport.
Fire losses detailed
- 87 houses completely destroyed or significantly damaged
- 384 farm sheds lost
- 89 pieces of farm machinery destroyed
- 98 vehicles lost
The dashboard of his ute is scattered with ammunition.
"Yesterday we shot probably 350 to 400 and buried probably about 900 in total — [we are] up to about 300 this morning already," he said.
Mr Schutz lifts his gun and deals with another sheep, as it is barely able to walk across a charred paddock.
Not far away, we see a slow-moving flock of about 100 sheep.
I asked: "How did they survive?"
"[I have] no idea — they avoided the fire somehow," Mr Schutz responded.
Perhaps the sheep that survived the fierce blaze were huddled in the middle of a bigger flock as the fire tore through.
Whatever ensured their survival, they are now a sorry sight in a blackened landscape.
Mr Schutz said it was hard to be sure how many sheep perished in the bushfire but he had heard a suggestion of about 16,000 because "85,000 hectares is a big patch of ground".
One of the farmers he helped out, Phil Duffield, had just about every hectare of his property blackened.
"He's only got about 60 sheep left, I think," Mr Schutz said.
As for the likely recovery time from such devastation, he said "it could take years — he's worked his whole life for this property basically".
"It'll take a a good couple of months to get things going again and it could take years to rebuild the whole place."
Credit ABC News
