FIERCE BUSH FIRES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17965, 15 December 1921, Page 9

FIERCE BUSH FIRES.

DAMAGE IN AUSTRALIA. NARROW ESCAPE' OF TOWN. 1 FARMERS' HEAVY LOSSES. Fires are again raging with great fury over a large part of the west, says a Sydney paper of December 3. Late last' night it seemed that tho town of Narromine would go, The fire reached to within two miles of tho town, but a luty in the wind enabled an army of workers to check it. It is estimated that 150,000 acres wem swept by the flames. ' A correspondent at Narromine, writing of the fires, says :— Ono of the most destructive bush fires in the history of Narromine occurred last -evening. The flames fanned by furious winds, spread through an immense tract of country over what is known as " Back Water." Valuable wheat crops, haystacks, machinery, fencing, and outhouses, were completely wiped out, many homesteads being saved with the utmost difficulty. One landholder lost nearly 700 bags of wheat, and his total loss is estimated at about £2000. The fire continued to rage on a wide front, and swept tho wholo of the southern countryside for miles around. In some instances the flames leapt 40ft. or 50ft. high, and tho country was beautifully illuminated. For a time 1 fears were entertained that grass and crops closer to Narromine would be destroyed. Hundreds of fire fighters adopted the 6ystem of burning back, by which means thousands of pounds' worth of valuable property and crops was saved. Most crops burnt were covered by insurance. On the Mungeribar side a num. ber §f ladies were forced to take refuge in an underground tank, where they remained for two hours. Another lady harnessed a horse to a cart, and securing clothes and blankets left her home at tho mercy of the fire. A landholder' whose property was threatened, had a narrow escape. When driving a sulky he was overtaken by the flames, but fortunately the wind changed, and man and horse arrived at their destination safely. It is estimated that the flames travelled 20 miles an hour. Hundreds of men who arrived by motor-cars, sulkies, bicycles, or on horseback, worked heroically to save life and property, and returned at 4 p.m. exhausted after a continuous battle with the heat and smoke. Most of the fires are now out, but it is possible there may be further outbreaks. Bush fires also raged in other directions, and Mr. G. J. McEntyre, manager, Doradilla Station, Dwyers Gates, writes s— A fire started (we think) by lightning somewhere on the Doradilla • Kemlworth boundary. It then travelled north, doing little damage to fences. In fact it did good by cleaning up a lot of rubbish. For instance, it killed hundreds of bogeyes and millions of grasshoppers. It also killed a large number of foxes. It was Sitiful to see them run into logs, only to 3 burnt up with tho log. Tho fire was" burning on a 14-mile front north of here, and was blocked by a returned soldier and his brothor, which was good work considering that in some places 50 men were working and could not turn it. The lead that travelled east was opposed by an army of strong men with shovels. Miles of grass was torn up by them, but all in vain, as it crossed in the night, when tho fire-fighters were having a well-earned rest, It caused a stampede. The men rushed east to Bobelah, breaking the fences in several places between Doradilla and that station in their rush for safety, and leaving most of their equipment, including coats and watehes. The fire now travelled through Bobelah,. doing little damage further than frightening tho landholders in its path and causing them to make a record muster of their Stock. It is greatly to their credit that no stock was burnt. On the southern wmg one old man of 70, attracted by the roaring of a bullock which had got entangled in a fence and wao being burnt, rushed through tlie flames with an axe- and released the fl "on kenilworth the fire is still raging, and it is the worst I have ever seen, and U the way H is burning there is every indication of it eoing on for another fortnight. The reflection is a sisrht; I can read by.it at a distance of 10 miles; but as there is no stork within the zone (only a few wild goats driven before the flames), no one is fighting it. In fact, it would be madness, as it is so intense.