Blaze victim thanks fund

Press, 26 February 1983, Page 24

Blaze victim thanks fund

PA Nelson A New Zealand woman is the thank-you figurehead for the thousands of Australian fire victims who will benefit from a multi-million dollar public appeal. Mrs Kay Purton, aged 24, formerly of Nelson, and her 18-month daughter, Jasmine, escaped from her home in Cockatoo, Victoria, moments before it was engulfed in flames. The blaze swept through the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, killing 29 people. She has been flown from Melbourne to Perth to thank Western Australians on behalf of fire victims, for giving $2.5 million, her father. Mr Geoff .MacGregor, said in Perth. Mrs Purton's mother, now Mrs Betty Screqn, who lives in Nelson, said that her daughter Kay went to Australia seven years ago when she was 17. Last year she married a cockatoo plumber, Kevin Purton. who is also a bush fire-fighter. Mrs Screen managed to contact her daughter by telephone the day Cockatoo was razed. “She was terribly upset. At that stage her husband had gone missing while fighting the fire.” Mrs Screen was later

called and advised that he had been found, unharmed. Mrs Screen said that the 'fire was a heavy blow as the Purtons had only just rebuilt their home after it was smashed by a huge falling gum tree. The house was old and built of timber. It was surrounded by bush, the last house in the street, and Mrs Screen said that she could understand how readily it would have burned. Mr MacGregor said that Kay and Jasmine had been lucky to escape with their lives. “The police said their house was one of the first to go up. They had I l 'a minutes to get out of the place. They lost everything. All Kay managed to grab was her handbag.” She and Justine escaped the flames by huddling with other survivors in a cleared area while houses burned around them. Two television stations in Perth had raised $1.5 million in 2Vz hours. “The idea is that people who gave money can see the sort of person to whom the money is going and that it is appreciated.” The Purtons are scheduled to take part in a number of Government and civic meetings.