WALL OF FLAME

Evening Star, Issue 20994, 7 January 1932, Page 9

WALL OF FLAME

AUSTRALIAN BUSH FIRES APPALLING CALAMITY Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. SYDNEY, January 6, Nothing so appalling as the western bush and grass fires has occurred in New South Wales for a long time. Some of the largest and best-known pastoral properties in the vicinity of Bourke and Cobar havo been burned out, together with hundreds of miles of fencing, wool sheds, and thousands of sheep, despite the indefatigable services of local gangs of firefighters, who are suffering the greatest hardships and loss of sleep.

Reports state that a lurid glare in the sky at night time is awe-inspiring as the fire rages along a 300-mile front, sweeping through tall dry grass, and consuming fencing, sheep, and fallen timber, leaving behind a wall of rolling smoke, which, combined with high temperatures, is making the conditions uncomfortable in every home. Telegraph poles have been burned in great numbers, interrupting telegraphic and telephonic communication, and preventing news of the fate of more isolated stations becoming known. Scores of settlers whose pasturage is all gone are feverishly casting round for agistment for thousands of sheep which were rescued from the 'danger zone. It is believed that the agistment question will finally bo surmounted by the friendly co-operation of neighbouring pastoralists along the Macquarie and Lachlan Rivers, but the problem in reference to the burned properties is very serious, as, for example, the smallest holding of, say, 64,000 acres, will require forty miles of new boundary fences at a cost of about £45 a mile. It is generally believed that the banks and probably the Government will render immediate aid for this purpose, MILLIONS OF ACRES BURNT SYDNEY, January 7. (Received January 7, at 10.20 a.m.) A conservative estimate, based on official reports from the Bourke, Wilcannia, and Cobar pastures protection districts, show that the fire loss in these districts is 2,500,000 acres. Fresh outbreaks are menacing another 1,500,000 acres, which only rain can save.