Bush fires near Adelaide, Australia

Mid-autumn in South Australia

Fire crews battle Adelaide Hills blaze

Fire crews in South Australia are continuing to battle a large bushfire burning in rugged terrain in the Adelaide Hills.

ABC

11 May, 2013

The Country Fire Service (CFS) says the fire is only 300 metres away from the Cherryville township, and it is threatening the southern edge of the Montacute Conservation Park.

It has already destroyed a house and a shed at Basket Range.

Around 100 firefighters worked through the night in gusty conditions to try and contain the fire, which has now burnt through around 650 hectares.

Winds have eased in the past few hours, however there are concerns strong northerly winds will pick up later today.

Water bombers have been in the air since first light and a community meeting will be held at the Uraidla Community Hall at noon to update residents.

Brenton Hastie from the CFS says even though the fire is close to Cherryville, it is moving slowly.

"We've got a strategy in place with the crews there to do something about it should it continue to move north, and we've also tasked aircraft as soon as they're able to take off," he said.

Police say they have spoken to a number of residents on the western side of the fire about leaving their properties.

Mr Hastie says 20 homes were under threat last night.

He says more could be at risk if conditions deteriorate.

"We have the fire impacting on multiple properties at the moment, we're looking at between 15 and 20 houses on the two roads that are being impacted," he said.

"Our advice to people remains the same, that anyone in the vicinity of this fire needs to activate their bushfire survival plan and needs to continue to monitor local conditions and any further warnings that may be issued.

"We've got some fairly swirly winds that have gone across the fire ground, meaning that we've had multiple areas where the fire has been spreading in different directions which has made it fairly difficult to keep up with."

Shelley Hunter was at a CFS briefing in Uraidla last night, and says she and her children are staying with friends while her husband looks after their property.

"I've taken all the valuables, so everything that's there is just materialistic stuff, we've got all our things," she said.

"So we won't be heading back there. I won't put me or my children in danger."

The fire was started on Thursday by a controlled burn-off