The Mount Lofty Fire Tower sits on top of Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills just to the east of the city of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The 34m high tower has a commanding view over a huge area of the rural areas surrounding Adelaide, and on a clear day the view can extend to as far as Kangaroo Island to the southwest, Monarto to the east, the Fleurieu Peninsula to the south, and the grassy plains beyond

Two Wells Two Wells is a town approximately north of the Adelaide city centre in South Australia adjacent to Port Wakefield Road and passed by the Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line. The first settlers in the area used two aboriginal wells in the area a ...

to the north. The tower is used to spot fires in the Adelaide Hills and surrounds on days of very high or extreme fire danger during summer. The spotting crew determine the location of a smoke sighting by taking a bearing and then calculating distance using topographic maps. Details of the sighting are then passed to the 'Adelaide Fire' Communications Centre who despatch the nearest fire brigade.

History

The tower, which sits within

Cleland National Park Cleland National Park, formerly Cleland Conservation Park, is a protected area located in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia about south-east of the Adelaide city centre. It conserves a significant area of natural bushland on the Adelaide Hi ...

, was built in 1980 and initially staffed by National Parks and Wildlife Service officers. The Country Fire Service took over responsibility for the tower in 1987, recruiting a paid staff of three fire spotters on a contract basis who between them maintained an eight-hour watch for the entire Fire Danger Season from 1 December to 30 April. The spotting crew typically reported close to 200 sightings per season. In the mid-1990s a volunteer unit was established specifically to operate the fire tower, and this was then formally recognised as a Country Fire Service brigade in November 2000.

Ash Wednesday, February 1983

The National Parks and Wildlife Service crew who staff the tower during the

Ash Wednesday fires The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983, which was Ash Wednesday. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by hot ...

on 16 February 1983 later recalled the ferocity with which the fire came tearing up through Cleland Conservation Park towards them. The main fire that day started at nearby

Mount Osmond Mount Osmond is a small suburb of 2,497 people in the South Australian capital city of Adelaide. It is part of the City of Burnside Local government in Australia, local government area and located in the foothills of the Adelaide Hills, five kilo ...

and reached the summit of Mount Lofty well within an hour (a typical bushfire would take several hours to cover this same distance). Visibility was obscured due to severe dust storms generated by the strong winds, and the crew only evacuated the tower as the fire was literally at their doorstep. Although the steel structure of the tower survived intact, the windows of the 34m high tower were completely shattered. The spotters were forced to simply shelter in the carpark below as the fire passed over them.

''Australia Live'' broadcast

On 1 January 1988 the Mount Lofty Fire Tower was beamed live around Australia on Channel 9 television as part of the

Australia Live {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2013 ''Australia Live'' was a four-hour telecast, broadcast live on the Nine Network, on 1 January 1988 to open Australia's Bicentennial celebrations. The telecast crossed live to over 70 locations right across the countr ...

broadcast to celebrate the

Australian Bicentenary The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. History The bicentennial year marked Captain Arthur Phillip's arrival with the 11 ships ...

. The three members of the spotting crew appeared on the broadcast along with former Adelaide radio journalist

Murray Nicoll Murray Nicoll (20 July 1943 – 2 May 2010) was an Australian journalist and News presenter, broadcaster whose career spanned more than 45 years. He was best known for providing reports on 5DN radio from his own burning home during the Ash Wedne ...

, who received a Walkley Award for his live report from his own street in Greenhill as it burned around him during the

in 1983. Following the ''Australia Live'' broadcast the three teenage members of the spotting crew appeared in several local media pieces and appeared in a two-page feature article in Woman's Day magazine.

Tower safety concerns

During February 2009 with some of the hottest weather on record, this 34m tower, the focal point for all fire-spotting activities in the Mt Lofty region, was unstaffed. CFS members say new civilian communications antennae on top of the tower made it sway uncontrollably in wind. Two experienced fire spotters feared for their own safety before they walked down the spiral staircase to the ground. The tower was re-opened after a years absence, and has been regularly staffed each fire season since by the Mount Lofty fire tower brigade of the CFS.

References

External links

Mount Lofty Fire Tower CFS Brigade
*https://www.fire-brigade.asn.au/operations/response/spotting.asp
The Independent Weekly - 21FEB09- A slideshow of the tower February 2009
{{coord, 34, 58, 28, S, 138, 42, 32, E, display=title Towers completed in 1980 Fire lookout towers in Australia