Big stock losses in fires

Press, 7 April 1978, Page 4

Big stock losses in fires

NZPA Perth Hundreds of burnt, blinded and dying sheep are stagger-, ing about blackened paddocks after the huge fire that j has swept the south-west of, Western Australia. Farmers, who had been battling the fire since Tuesday’ evening, yesterda- still had no time to put the sheep, land many cattle, out of their I misery. i Thousands of sheep were (burnt to death. One farmer iwas reported to have lost, 11500 head. The people of Western; 'Australia yesterday were j still counting the cost of the! :cyclonic storm. Five persons; 'were confirmed dead, two! small townships had been! destroyed. several other ( towns were flooded, and about 70 bushfires were burning, although under control. . The tinv timber towns of Yornup and Jarrahwood were engulfed by bushfires sweeping through tinder-dry forests in the south-west. At the other extreme, gales sent seawater surging through the (coastal towns of Bunbury, Busselton, and Mandurah at ithe height of the storm. HunIdreds of people in a number l of towns have been made homeless, and damage is estimated at millions of I dollars.