Power outages hit large areas of South Australia on Monday, with authorities explaining that the measure was necessary to prevent bush fires as temperatures in the region continue to climb up and reach unprecedented levels.

State authorities warned on Tuesday that the same situation could be seen in the immediate days ahead as weathermen reported of approaching dry airs, heading both to South Australia and Victoria and bringing with them the likelihood of sweltering heat waves.

Officials of Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA) have admitted that more power cuts could occur to ensure the safety of state residents.

Authorities were convinced that bush fires would have been ignited on Monday as hot strong winds spread the heat waves, prompting ETSA to cut power supplies while acknowledging that the action evidently inconvenienced thousands of residents in Victor Harbour and its nearby areas.

"We had had a situation where the fire conditions were escalating, very strong winds and we had reports through the CFS (Country Fire Service) of trees down, and that can cause a major problem in bringing down electrical infrastructure," ETSA spokesman Paul Roberts was reported by ABC as saying in explaining the sudden power interruption.

Roberts added that lives could have been lost and properties could have been damaged if ETSA failed to act on time.

"Clearly we recognise that people are affected and inconvenienced by not having power, but I guess the alternative is too serious to think about," Roberts told ABC.

ETSA officials also noted that the utility company is empowered to act decisively in moments of emergency, such as what happened on Monday and will decide the same way if similar scenarios would be observed in the days to come.

The heat wave, experts said, could soon crawl into Victoria as dry air masses were reported to be nearing the state, promising the same punishing temperature that South Australians have endured at the start of 2012.

University of Newcastle meteorologist Martin Babakhan has already forecasted soaring temperatures to blanket South Australia and Victoria and create a condition that is "very, very dangerous in a fire situation."

Babakhan told ABC that both states would encounter extreme fire conditions, in which temperatures could reach as high as 40 degrees Celsius and fires could be fanned up by high speed winds and plummeting humidity.