BURNED TO DEATH

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18636, 10 March 1926, Page 9

BURNED TO DEATH

INQUEST ON BUSH FIRE VICTIMS. DISTRICT AGAIN THREATENED. (BT CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received Alarch 9th, 8.15 p.m.) MELBOURNE, March 9. An inquest an the victims of the bush fires at Powelltown, Gilderoy, and Big Pat's Creek, when twenty persons were burned to death, was held at Warburton. Witnesses gave evidence that the twenty victims were literally roasted alive, their charred bodies being found alongside smouldering trees. Survivors told graphic stories of the ordeal, many having to shelter for hours in creeks, beating their clothing out as it caught alight. The Coroner, in returning a verdict that the victims had been accidentally burned to death, paid a tribute to the wonderful courage shown by the women and men who had met the awful holocaust on that dreadful Sunday afternoon. While the inquest was proceeding the fire-bell rang, the incessant heat having caused further fires in the district. The outbreak is growing rapidly. A dense pall of smoke is hanging over the countryside, and should the wind change to the north, the whole district will be again endangered.