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SA blazes hard to reach, lightning worries persist

Friday November 20, 2009 - 10:20 EDT

Bushfires persist across SA despite cooler weather - ABC

Water bomber in action as bushfires burn across SA - ABC

Country Fire Service (CFS) crews are battling dozens of blazes across South Australia, some of them hard for the crews to reach.

Extreme weather conditions have now eased, but more thunderstorms forecast during Friday could be a problem.

In the past day, nearly 100 fires across SA were sparked by lightning.

Firefighters have stopped the spread of a blaze in Spring Gully Conservation Park near Sevenhill in the Clare Valley.

In fresh winds, it burnt close to several houses.

The fire is thought to have been started by lightning, one of more than 26,000 strikes across SA in the past day.

A fire in the lower Flinders Ranges at Wirrabara is still of concern.

Another is burning at the foot of Yorke Peninsula, at Formby Bay near Marion Bay.

Crews are mopping up at the scene of Thursday night's fire at Pine Point on the same peninsula.

Travellers the town's caravan park were evacuated as a precaution.

That fire burnt through more than 300 hectares.

Fire crews have also spent the night monitoring on Yorke Peninsula where 1,200 hectares of crops and grassland were burnt in a fire which broke out close to Currumulka.

Five people were injured when two CFS trucks collided on Thursday.

And a firefighter from the Department of Environment was injured in a vehicle collision while attending a fire at Kingston in the south-east of South Australia on Thursday night.

He was taken to hospital for treatment.

- ABC

© ABC 2009