The fire and loss of life is sad, and well reported. Has anyone heard about the bees and what happened with them? I’m not sure if they are on the half of the island that burnt or the half unburnt and haven’t been able to find anything online.
Ligurian bees
Current Fires
Sadly no. Latest reports say the whole Island is under threat and much of it already burnt.
Your link to the fires above says it all.
I just saw this
The total area burnt is so extensive and is still burning.
4.8 million hectares equates to nearly 12 million acres.
The aftermath of these fires will take many many years to get over. In cost, human life and well-being.
A true tragedy of epic proportions. So very sad.
So incredibly sad. Prayers all the fires end soon and normalcy is easily attained.
I visite Australia for 6 weeks in 2004 and Kangaroo Island- Is so sad to see that fire is destroying everything ! 
Unbelievable tragedy. I can’t help but think it’s arson.
It’s often lightening, and power lines touching. And
The Stirling range fires in WA were by lightening.
The one in Yanchep was by power lines. Oddly the power company aren’t held responsible for that. There was one in Tenterden WA at Xmas about 15 years ago where 2 people died. Also started by power lines.
Lines often too long without spacers and wooden poles don’t help either.
And deliberate lit one’s.
The lack of rain/cleaning and build up of dust leading to arcing is the issue. The fire you talk about that killed 2 people, if memory serves, was a private power line on a rural property. The owners weren’t aware they had responsibility for the maintenance, not the power company. There was a coronial inquest on that one from memory.
85 % man made. up to 50% arson… Crazy. unfortunately on the kangaroo island council the fire hazard reduction controls are all about grass cutting and slashing and tree removal. fingers crossed everything bounces back from the fires. looking into the 2009 fires it looks lots has come back.
I didn’t know that.
I also didn’t know it’s a landowners responsibility.
Hi @busso…we are asking ourself… this fire is burning for so many month now… has the Australian government ask other country for help on this enormous out of control bush fire ? I know that when is a catastrophic situation everyone comes in help. 
hope is ending soon !
I believe there are NZ and Canadian firefighters here
I am here in Adelaide and have many connections to KI through my brother who lived and kept bees there. The news is indeed very bad. Many hives were lost, many homes burned, a friend of mine lost his father and his brother. It was and is horrific and tragic. The West End was hit very hard- and that is where many beekeepers would have had hives in the magnificent ecologically diverse rich forest and scrubland. There are bees kept across the entire island and not all have been lost- I know of one beekeeper who’s property was largely spared and her hives are OK.
I can’t even begin to imagine the suffering of the animals on the Island- the place absolutely teems with wildlife.
Unfortunately in South Australia we have already cleared the vast majority of our natural woodlands- and KI is extremely important as it has some of the largest tracts of native flora and fauna left in our state. It truly is a magical unique and wonderful place. Given a chance- and given some rain- much will recover. However this will all happen again, and again, and again. This is Climate Change. It is too late now to avert it, the future will be all about doing whatever we can to mitigate and adapt to it.It will not be easy- and we already wasted so much time. Ignorance is no longer an option and cannot be tolerated: people have died, are dying and will die.
I feel that these fires are an absolute wake up call to all humanity. It is a taste of the future and I truly believe the entire world has turned on a dime these past few weeks. As Greta Thumberg said, “Change is coming. Whether you like it or not”. We must change- we can do it willingly- or we can wait until change is forced upon us. But things have changed.
Whatever starts a particular fire- the real problem is the heat trapped in the Earth’s system. Having been deep into the thick dense scrub and forest on KI- I understand fully that there is virtually nothing humans can do to stop a fire once the conditions for a fire are present. I think this article should put the fear of God into every one of us and galvanise us all to action:
This footage was filmed by a KI Beekeeper:
For clarity, it was a feeder line to their property and involved private support poles, not a line passing over or through their property as part of the larger network.
Thanks for the update @Semaphore, Jack. That’s sad indeed and I’m sorry to hear of your personal connection to the losses and impact.
And the USA also has sent people over too.
When we were in Tassie, the power company inspected private lines and informed the property owner of the need to replace it an a deadline.