Adelaide, Jan 12 (IANS): The threat from a fast-moving bushfire in the state of South Australia (SA) has eased after thousands of hectares of land were burned, officials said on Tuesday.

In an update, the Country Fire Service (CFS) said that the fire, the first significant one in SA this year, no longer posed a significant threat to the town of Lucindale, approximately 350 km southeast of Adelaide, the state capital, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Monday the fire reached the outskirts of the town, having already burned almost 17,000 hectares of land, devastating local farming and livestock infrastructure.

Nick McBride, the member of SA Parliament for the area, said that up to 2,000 sheep and 200 cattle had perished in the fire.

"These are huge losses for people who have lost stock in this area, because they're mainly grazing businesses down this way," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday morning.

More than 40 fire trucks and six waterbombers were deployed to fight the fire on Monday, which was a day of total fire bans across SA as temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius in some areas.

Despite the threat being downgraded, the CFS has warned residents of Lucindale to remain alert to changing conditions.

Earlier this month, several large bushfires threatened lives and homes in Western Australia (WA).

In December 2020, bushfires scorched more than half of the World Heritage listed Fraser Island, locate off Queensland state's east coast, after spreading from an illegal campfire.

The Fraser Island bushfire was one of the most significant blazes Australia witnessed since the 2019-20 "Black Summer" fire season which destroyed thousands of homes and claimed 33 lives, including nine firefighters.

Nearly 3 billion animals were also killed or displaced, and the fires harmed many threatened species and ecological communities.