DEVASTATING BUSH FIRES
HEAVY LOSS IN VICTORIA
(11.40 a.m.) MELBOURNE, Jan. 15 Twelve people were burned to death and about 350 houses were destroyed in devastating bush fires which swept parts of Victoria yesterday. Big fires were blazing on three sides of Melbourne last night. Livestock, crops, and fencing have also been destroyed and the damage is estimated at £500,000. Nearly 30,000 men; including soldiers, are fighting the fires, which swept to within 13 miles of Melbourne in a southern suburb, 10 miles from the city in the north-west, and 55 niilos in the north.
Hundreds of people driven from their homes lost their entire possessions. The fires were located on widely separated fronts in a huge area "mostly in the western district, but reached as far north as Beechworth. The present fires recall the disastrous outbreaks in 1939 which began on January 13 with a TO-mile-an-hour wind and resulted in the loss of G 9 lives.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19440115.2.84
Bibliographic details
Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 40, 15 January 1944, Page 6
Word Count
157DEVASTATING BUSH FIRES Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 40, 15 January 1944, Page 6
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Manawatu Standard. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in