BUSH FIRES IN VICTORIA

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25089, 22 January 1947, Page 3

BUSH FIRES IN VICTORIA

PANIC AT SEASIDE RESORT HOLIDAYMAKERS RUSH INTO SEA (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) MELBOURNE, January 21. Hundreds of holidaymakers at the seaside resort of Anglesea panicked and fled into the sea and on to fishing jetties when bush fires threatened the town. ■ Guests at a hotel, who were finishing dinner when the alarm sounded, rushed to the rooms, threw their belongings intd suitcases, dropped them out of the windows, and fled in any available means of transport, including a broken farm cart in the hotel yard. Bush fires in widely separated parts of Victoria' caused damage estimated at £.30,009. The fires were assisted by a 40-mile an hour wind, and temperatures of up to 102 degrees. The main centres of destruction v/ere Ballarat and Anglesea. When it approached Anglesea on a two-mile front a bush fire gutted a Boy Scouts’ camp and advanced until it was on the outskirts of the town. It was under control early this morning. At Ballarat the fires destroyed two homes, 30 haystacks, 20,000 acres of grass, many wheat crops, miles of fencing, and thousands of sheep. A change of wind averted further damage.