Volunteer fire-fighters should be compensated when extended bushfire efforts keep them from their families and work, one Local Government Association says.

The Local Government Association of South Australia is setting up a working group to assess how such compensation might work, and will consult with emergency services officials and Country Fire Service (CFS) volunteers.

The Mid-Murray Council has been most vocal in the push for compensation, as many locals were effects by the long-running Eden Valley bushfires earlier this year.

Mid-Murray Mayor Dave Burgess says some volunteers spend weeks on the ground battling blazes, which takes away from their own employment or businesses.

“These guys have been out there for days and hours working, saving property, saving people, but they've still got the bills coming in, they've still got a mortgage, they've still got the kids at school, still got electricity bills, phone bills,” Mayor Burgess said this week.

“Who helps them? How do they cope? The answer was nobody helps them and I think somebody should be helping them.”

He says there should be a way to get help, even if it is only a percentage of the money volunteer fire-fighters miss out on.

“It might be an arbitrary figure the committee comes up with, it's just to help them get through a rough patch because the bills don't stop.”

Meanwhile, support charity BlazeAid has been on various site in SA to help clean up and restore communities ravaged by bushfires.

The group says it has over 140 volunteers helping clean up dozens of properties, already completing what would be years of work if locals were made to go it alone.