BUSH CONFLAGRATIONS

Northern Advocate, 16 February 1926, Page 5

BUSH CONFLAGRATIONS

APPALLING EXPERIENCES MANY PERSONS INCINERATED. TOWNS WIPED OUT. (Received 9 a.m.) - MELBOURNE, This Day. Ten people were burned to death in a forest fire at Gildcroy, near Warbur;ton. Another death is reported in Erica. Six people are also reported missing, and hundreds are left homeless and destitute. Reports so far are meagre, but the casualty list to date states that a man named Walker, his wife and two children, Sydney Johns and Herbert Johns, Bert Sandham, a baby named Duncan, and two men, Linday and King, wore burned to death, while Albert Munson, Joseph Johnson, Joseph. Walker, L. Roberts, J. Walker, Rowe and his wifeahd Clarence Rowe arc missing. The injured include a man named King and Mrs. Duncan, McDonald, his wife and two children, all burned, and a man named Rowe who is blinded. Surrounding bush fires, which were fed by a gale raging at 50 miles ah hour, carried a thick fall of dust and smoke over the city. sky reflected the fires, wMch are on a 50 miles front. '■ The town of Noojee, Gippsland, was swept 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 Rubicoru forest is afire. At Sherwood, where .the forest is also ablaze, £50,000 worth of damage, has been caused and seven years’, work on the plantations undone. The conflagration is the most serious for 20 years,' and familfbs are abandoning their homes and fleeing in all directions. —A. and N.Z.

CASUALTY LISTS AUGMENTED. CRIMINAL CARELESSNESS. CAUSES BIG DISASTER. (Received 9.10 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. Details of the forest fires show that 16 people Irove been burned to death and seven are missing. Additional casualty lists state that Peter Olsen, his wife and three children were burned to death at Noojee. Many people suffering from burns - are arriving at Melbourne hospitals, but 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 arc 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 people 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. ‘ A conservative estimate of the damage in the Noojee region is £IOO,000. ■

The police state that the fire in the Dandenong ranges, which nearly demolished'Beaconsfleld, 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 were incinerated near Warragul, Gippsland.

A party of 70 men encamped at Bunyip had to run for their lives. l They only Just escaped. Most of the rcfugtecs toll of appall-

ittg experiences, blazing . fragments - falling on them as they ■ sheltered -in the river and creeks.

Bain has now commenced in some areas.—A. and N.Z. - " ' OUTSPEAKS JOIN FORCES. FANNED BY FIERCE GALE. . MOUNT PLEASANT INVADED. (Received 9:10 a.m.) _., _ ADELAIDE, This Day. A bush .fire at Mount Pleasant eh■dangered the town., -The flames start•ed, in the hills and swept down on Mount Pleasant, fanned by a fierce .gale. A second fire broke out and the r irwo 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 Chtireh and badly damaging a . large number of buildings. An area of nearly 30,000 acres of valuable country has been completely -denuded. —A; and N.Z. - toubteen'charred BODIES. HELPLESS WOMEN AND CHILDREN. TIMBER MILLS DEMOLISHED. (Received .11.50 a.m.) j 'MELBOURNE, This Day. Relief parties, have been sent out from Warburton in motor cars to ,resk«eue settlers whose homes have, been burnt and who probably are without { food. . _ I

Large numbers of women and children, half stupified by smoke and terrible experiences, were seen sitting along the roadside waiting helplessly for assistance.

A search party which went into the ruined Powell forest found the charred bodies of 14 persons close together, mostly men employed in the timber industry. At Erica 20 houses and four timber mills were damaged. It is feared that further loss of life has occurred at Knott, which, although only four miles from Walhalla, is not reachable owing to the fire still burning on the only .road. The telephone wires are down. Thirty persons' are not accounted far in the immediate environs of Walhalla. Latest reports from Warragai state that the loss of life in the NoojecNayak area probably will be greater than at first anticipated. It is feared that most of the persons at present posted as missing have succumbed. ' The whole district extending from Bunyip to Darnum on the main Gippsland line and from Nagook to Noojee on the spur line from Warragul, appears to have been a blazing inferno. The fact that the Warburton fire spread quickly and linked up with that of Noojee cut oil;, the ■ only possible route of escape for the settlers. In addition to Noojee, it is reported that throe small settlements have been wiped out and at least 12 mills destroyed in the district. The number of houses burned is expected to total 200. ,

Most of the refugees fire suffering from burns and partial suffocation. Messages of sympathy have been (sent to the affected areas by the Governor -and the Premier. A relief train with blankets and mattresss has been despatched.—A. and N.Z. HORRORS INCREASE. A VERITABLE .INFERNO. TERRIBLE TALLY EXPECTED: (Received 1 p.m.) - MELBOURNE, This Day. As far as can be ascertained at present 28 people have been burned to death by bush fires. It is feared, however, that the number will be greatly exceeded.

The fires arc the greatest that have been experienced since 1899. The centres which suffered most were .Warburton, where.. 14 deaths occurred, Pat’s. Creek, with seven deaths, Noojee with five and Erica with two. In addition more than 80 persons are unaccounted for in the Warragul area alone/ while no estimate has been formed of the number still not located in other centres of Gippsland. In addition to the large mortality list, incalculable damage to property and live stock has resulted, as well as the destruction of many square miles of valuable timber. Settlers’ homes in all parts of the State have been destroyed in large numbers. The town of Noojee was wiped out. Only for the fact that one brick building withstood the fury of the fire all the inhabitants must have been burned.

Five post offices have been destroyed and several schools. The telegraph and telephone services are so isolated in many centres, where it is feared damage to life and property has occurred, that they cannot be communicated with.

. Many fires are still raging, though the strong wind has dropped. Bain is the only hope in many centres. The forecast, however, is not promising. Kefugces and homeless children who have passed through the most harrowing experiences are pouring into the larger settlements in search of food and shelter. ••

It is impossible as yet to obtain a detailed mortality list. .

At Erica an old man named Fisk was caught in the flames. He tried to climb into a boiler, but the fire overcame him. W.'Collins was also burnt to death. Mr., E. Bull, president of the Victorian branch of the Telegraph Union, while fighting the fire collapsed and died. James Lang dropped dead from overexertion, heart failure and heat. The fire, burning on a 40-mile front along the ranges,- has broken into five sections, threatening Queenstown, St. Andrew’s, Arthur's Greek, Greenville and Kingslake. About Queenstown Flowefdale the fire is still uncontrolled. Humedale is threatened and Queenstown is-isolated. [ At Kingslake and SL Andrew’s hun-. dreds are fighting to keep the fire down, but they are gradually being forced back. At Noojec about 50 people took refuge in the Latrobe Eivcr and stayed there for nine hours till the danger had passed. Five high trestle railway . bridges on the Warragul line have been destroyed.—A; and N.Z.