FIGHTING BUSH FIRES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 47, 25 January 1926, Page 10

FIGHTING BUSH FIRES

DOGGED LANDHOLDERS BEATING BACK THE FLAMES. / SYDNEY, Jan. v l4. Cars racing to bush fires at 60 miles an hour and dogged landholders, barebacked, beating back the flames with their shirts were the stirring scenes around Condobolin when the Inglewood property caught alight. All the available men in the town, as well as landholders, raced to the sceno full speed in cars, some going ovor good road patches at 60 miles an hour. In a few hours 200 men were fighting the flames against a strong westerly wind. At times with wind gusts, tho flames covered the ground at tho rate of 10 to 20 miles an hour. At ono stage four men had to race two miles in a car to keep ahead of it. Tho fire-fighters describe it as the fiercest they’ve ever worked at. The only saving feature was a lot of fallowed land on different farms, where tho onrush could bo checked. Approximately 100,000 acres were burnt, including many rabbit-proof netting fences. All homesteads wore saved, but some only with tho most desperate efforts of the fighters. At ono houso the fight was so perilous and exciting that two men, George Macßhillamy and Joo Mearnes, being unable to obtain bushes or other weapons, took off their shirts and belted back the fire. They aro suffering from blistered backs. Practically all tho stock was saved, and all tho wheat that had remained stacked in the paddocks. A burning tree fell across a motor car with four fire-fighters in it, breaking portion of the car and injuring C. J. Schlunko and a young man named Nelson. However, aH was well under check last night, and a largo number of men were on guard to-day to prevent a further outbreak.