© AAP
Firefighters are battling to control a major wildfire in southern Australia which has killed two people and thousands of livestock.
Around 200 firefighters and several aircraft have reportedly been deployed to try and control the blaze, which is burning across a 27-mile front near Adelaide.
One person died in a paddock while a second died in a car, Australian media reported.
At least three people who were helping fight the fire have been taken to hospital with severe burns, the ABC said.
An employee at one of the state's largest pig farms told the broadcaster staff were forced to leave thousands of animals for dead as the blaze approached.
"It was pretty scary seeing it coming over the hill coming towards work," he said.
"We were there with firefighters ready to fight it and we just turned and ran. It was big. I think my work's gone or at least the majority of it."
As many as 9,000 pigs are thought to have burned alive, ABC reported.
The fire, which has been fanned by high winds, is feared to be heading towards Australia's Barossa Valley wine-growing region.
"It's a particularly fast-moving and very dangerous fire," South Australian Country Fire Service chief Greg Nettleton told reporters.
"The crews are working as hard as they can to protect communities and property.
"The wind change that has gone through is expected to abate a little bit around about 9 o'clock tonight and hopefully we'll be able to get the upper hand on that fire into the evening. But certainly it's far, far from being controlled."
Home and cars in the area have been destroyed and power has been cut off to thousands of buildings.
The blaze comes after four people were killed in one of a series of wildfires sparked by lightning in Western Australia last week.
Bushfires are extremely common in Australia in the summer months, however, some scientists have warned the length and intensity of the fire season many increase as climate change causes temperatures to rise.
Comment: It is not only Australia where the "length and intensity of the fire season" is increasing. A study has shown that wildfire seasons are more destructive and lasting longer almost everywhere on Earth.
Globally we are witnessing extensive wildfires, which in some regions have been described as "unprecedented". The National Interagency Fire Center has described the 2015 wildfire season in the United States as a record breaker. The Amazon jungle is going up in smoke with tens of thousands of wildfires so far this year. Wildfires in Indonesia are causing a toxic haze which threatens millions in southeast Asia.
Rather than attributing this increase to "climate change" which "causes temperatures to rise", could a significant factor in the escalation of these wildfires be that they are fueled from outgassing, then possibly 'sparked' by an increase in atmospheric electric discharge events, such as lightning strikes and other 'cosmic' ignition sources?