Ash Wednesday, February 1983
The National Parks and Wildlife Service crew who manned the tower during the Ash Wednesday fires 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 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.
Read more about this topic: Mount Lofty Fire Tower
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