FATAL BUSH FIRES

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 121, 16 February 1926, Page 7

FATAL BUSH FIRES

SIXTEEN PEOPLE BURNED TO DEATH IN VICTORIA SEVEN OTHERS MISSING X HUNDREDS HOMELESS AND DESTITUTE ' .. \ : I TOWN PRACTICALLY WIPED OUT Sixteen people have been burned to death in forest fires Victoria, seven others are missing, and several have been seriously injured, while hundreds have been left homeless and destitute. The outbreaks are the most serious for twenty years, the flames being carried along by a fierce gale. The town of Noojee has been practically wiped out, and Croydon and Mount Pleasant (in South Australia) are in danger.

Br ■ Telegraph.— Press Association. Copyright.

(Rec. February 15, 10.5 p.m.) Melbourne, February 15. Ten people were burned to death in a forest fire at Gilderoy, near Warburton. ’ Another death is reported in Erica. Six people are also reported missing and hundreds left homeless and destitute. Reports so far are meagre, but the casualty list to date states that Walker and his wife and two children, Sydney Johns, Herbert Johns, Bert Sandhani, ' a babv named Duncan, and two men, Linday and King, have been burned to death. Those missing are:—Albert Munson, Joseph Johnson, Joseph Walker, L. ■ Roberts, J. Walker, Rowe and wife, and Clarence Rowe. The injured include King and Mrs. Duncan. McDonald and his wife and two children, who have been burned, and a.man named Rowe, who has been blinded. Melbourne is surrounded by bush fires, which are fed by a gale .raging at fifty miles an hour, and carrying a thick pall of dust and smoke over the citv. The skv reflected the fires, which are on a fifty miles front. The town of Noojee, Gippsland, was swept by fire and has been practically wiped out. A relief train was unable to get through. The town of Croydon is still in danger. A message from Alexandra states that the whole of the Rubicon forest is on fire, and at Sherwood forest, which also is ablaze, £50,000 worth of damage has been caused and seven years’ work on the plantations undone. The conflagrations are the most serious for twenty years, and families are abandoning their homes and fleeing in all directions. FURTHER LOSSES OF LIFE REPORTED APPALLING EXPERIENCES OF REFUGEES * RAIN COMMENCED (Rec. February 15, 11.5 p.m.) Melbourne, February 15. Later details. of the forest fires show that sixteen people have been burned to death, and seven are missing. Additional casualty lists state that Peter Olsen and his wife and three children were burned to death at Noojee. Many people suffering from burns are I

arriving at Melbourne hospitals, but the communications are so disorganised that it is impossible so far to issue complete casualty lists. At Noojee, men, women and children were compelled to huddle in the river all day. Relief operations are greatly retarded owing to the destruction of railway bridges, forcing relief trains to return. Temporary repairs were later effected, enabling trains to get through but to reach them the peopk had to cut their way through burning logs. Special relief parties, with food, blankets, and tents have already been organised by the Government, and have set out for the devastated regions. According to a conservative estimate, the damage at Noojee is in .the region of MOO,OOO. The police state that the fire in the Dandenong Ranges, whicli nearly demolished Beaconsfield, Upper Beaconsfield, and Berwick, was caused by a party of men on a fishing expedition in a prohibited creek. Twelve bodies so far have been recovered, and the police state that - more will be found as relief parties search the burnt-out regions. One report states that a family of five has been incinerated near Warragul, Gippsland. A party of seventy men encamped at Bunyip had to run for their lives. They only just escaped. Most of the refugees tell of appalling experiences, blazing fragments falling on them as they sheltered in rivers and creeks. Rain lias now commenced in some areas.—Press Assn. LARGE AREA SWEPT IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA MOUNT PLEASANT IN DANGER (Rec. February 15, 10.5 p.m.) Adelaide, February 15. A bush fire ...at Mount Pleasant endangered the town. The flames started in’the hills and swept down on Mount Pleasant, fanned by a fierce gale. A second fire broke out, and the two joining forces burned out farms, telegraph poles, and fencing, despite the efforts of a thousand fire-fighters. The flames swept into the town, destroying the Anglican church and badlv damaging a large number cf buildings. Nearly thirty thousand acres of valuable country have been destroyed.—Press Assn.