The Premier chaired a meeting of the Emergency Management Cabinet Committee this morning to hear from representatives of the Country Fire Service (CFS), State Emergency Service (SES) and Environment and Water Department about preparations for the upcoming bushfire season.

“It is important that as a state we start thinking about this at a time earlier than we usually would,” Malinauskas told reporters after the meeting.

“It is becoming apparent that the risk for bushfires this summer in South Australia is very substantial indeed for a range of reasons.

“We have not seen the type of conditions that we expect this summer in our state for a long time.”

The Premier highlighted that Australia has gone through three summers of La Niña – a weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean which creates higher rainfall and lower surface temperatures.

The Bureau of Meteorology formally declared last month that an El Niño weather event is underway in the Pacific, which will bring warmer and drier conditions to Australia.

A positive Indian Ocean Dipole is also underway, which typically reduces average rainfall across Australia.

Malinauskas said it was the first time these two weather patterns had combined since the summer of 2015/16 in which the Pinery bushfire occurred. That bushfire swept across around 82,000 hectares of prime farm land north of Adelaide and destroyed 470 buildings.

The Premier also warned that emergency services had a limited timeframe to conduct prescribed burns this fire season.

“Because we’ve had a drier winter and because we know that we’re having a hot summer, the window that we have to safely conduct prescribed burns is narrow,” Malinauskas said.

“Which means that it’s difficult to necessarily being able to provide the same level of coverage around prescribed burns as what we’ve been able to achieve in the past.

“Prescribed burning can only be undertaken in very certain circumstances that allow it to be done safely.”

So far, 25 prescribed burns have been undertaken for this summer with plans for a further 31, according to the state government.

The State Government is taking action now to ensure our state is prepared for the bushfire season.

We’re investing in the necessary equipment to ensure our firefighters are well-equipped and we’re undertaking prescribed burns across the state. pic.twitter.com/cjPCHhbzuR

— Peter Malinauskas (@PMalinauskasMP) October 10, 2023

CFS chief officer Brett Loughlin said the agency anticipates firefighters “are going to be busy as the season progresses”.

“Our philosophy in South Australia has always been to hit fires as hard as we can, as early as we can to give us the greatest chance of stopping them from growing into significant incidents,” he said.

“But there comes a point each and every summer where the weather conditions will exceed our ability to have that sort of success.

“That’s where the public… can have the greatest impact by doing their own planning, their own preparation.”

The warning comes after the CFS announced last week that the fire danger season would be starting early in six South Australian fire districts.

The Flinders, North East Pastoral, North West Pastoral, and West Coast districts will begin fire bans on October 16 – two weeks earlier than usual.

The Mid North and Yorke Peninsula districts will begin fire danger season on November 1.

Fire Danger Season dates for the Adelaide metropolitan region are set to be announced in coming weeks.

September 2023 was recorded as the hottest September globally on record at 0.93°C warmer than the 1991-2020 baseline.