FOREST FIRE

Evening Star, Issue 22817, 27 November 1937, Page 17

FOREST FIRE

RAGING IN VICTORIA TOWNSHIP THREATENED WITH DESTRUCTION SIX-MILE FRONT AND SPREADING RAPIDLY Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright MELBOURNE, November 27. (Received November 27, at 11.25 a.m.) Great damage was clone by a bush fire which swept through forests on a six-mile front near Macedon and is spreading rapidly. At an early hour this morning upper Macedon township was threatened when a strong wind sprang up. The flames tore through the thick scrub towards the township. Over 200 volunteers are fighting the tire, which at 2 o’clock this morning threatened the magnificent homes on Mount Macedon, including that of the Attorney-General, Mr Menzies. Mrs Menzies and her four children abandoned the home and sought refuge in the Macedon golfhouse. A number of fire-fighters collapsed and were carried to safety. One woman was rescued with her clothes alight. Later this morning it was feared that upper Macedon was faced with total destruction if the strong wind continued. The Menzies family, including Mrs Menzies’s sister, evacuated the house in their night attire. The district forest superintendent said that in his opinion the fire near Macedon had been started deliberately. It was the practice of some persons to set fire to portions of the forest so that the young grass which followed the fire would provide good grazing. The fire, which started at noon on Thursday, did not cause serious alarm until yesterday, when the freshening wind whipped up the flames.