It later travelled southeast towards the Kersbrook township and across the Mount Lofty Ranges.As of 6 January 2015[update], at least 26 houses were destroyed with 37 families in temporary accommodation.

Residents started to be allowed back in from 6 January, with their identity and address being checked to limit access to only the roads that had been cleared as safe for travel.

Road clearing was suspended on the afternoon of 7 January due to the wind and thunderstorms making the activity unsafe for the cleanup crews.

[19] Thunderstorms on the afternoon of 7 January produced a spate of new grass fires from lightning, but also brought cooler temperatures, increased humidity, and rain over some parts of the fireground, making it easier to control and extinguish the remaining areas.

[22] The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, together with the Premier, Jay Weatherill, visited parts of the damaged area in the Adelaide Hills on 7 January 2015 and announced that victims of the bushfires shall be entitled to receive disaster recovery payments via Centrelink.

[33] RSPCA South Australia also called for donations to assist the people and animals affected by the bushfires emergency.

[34] An early theory for the source of the fire was a backyard incinerator started by a resident on Shillabeer Road in Sampson Flat.

The resident of the home where the incinerator was located said a dam pump on the property was not operational until he fixed it two weeks ago and that an irrigation pipe, which was burnt in the fire, was laid on the ground rather than buried underneath.

The fires are the worst to affect the Adelaide Hills region since the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, which was caused by years of drought and extreme heat.