On 16 February 1983, Crafers was hard hit by the Ash Wednesday bushfires. Many homes adjacent to bushland on the western side of the suburb were destroyed as the fire came roaring out of Cleland Conservation Park, and the devastation would have been much worse if a change in weather had not occurred right when the township of Crafers itself was being threatened. A memorial on Mount Lofty Summit is dedicated to those in the Adelaide Hills who lost their lives that day.