TRAGIC BUSH FIRES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21101, 8 February 1932, Page 10

TRAGIC BUSH FIRES.

VICTORIAN DISTRICTS. SIX TRAPPED IN A MILL. VICTIMS BURNED TO DEATH. OTHER FATALITIES REPORTED. Ly Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. MELBOURNE. Feb. <;. Te;i people have lost their lives, at least three have been critically burned end many have suffered minor burns in lmsh fires which swept through tho l'owelltown and Noojee districts. Six men were burned to death when O'Shca's mill, one of the largest in Victoria, was swept by fire. They were:— James Vague, John O'Shea, 36, Wilfred Ilichards, John Schultz, Edward Miller, 25, James Maloney, 33. John O'Shea was the owner of the mill and the others were mill workers. There were 10 men in (he mill when the fire swept down on them. The flames were so intense that volunteers were not nble to approach. The party made a dash for the river close by in pairs. Mrs. O'Shea and another mill worker escaped, but the six victims were trapped by fires from another quarter. Their charred bodies were found later. Two other mill workers are in a critical condition. Twenty-five men, women and children were trapped at Freeman Brothers' mill at Longwarry. They were rescued after a great fight with the flames. Anxiety is felt for the safety of 20 residents in the small sawmilling township of I'umina. Communication with the surrounding towns is cut off. Ham saved the towns of Walhalla and Waiburton. In both places the residents packed their valuables ready for flight. George Alfred Cook, 62, and his son, Ronald Cook, 14, lost their lives when they were trapped in tflazing grass near Warragul. , , Jtfhn Knopp, 6,2, and his son are also dead. They were burning a break when they were trapped in a mass of flames, borne down upon them through the wind changing suddenly. Another son, Walter, was severely burned. The bush fires have caused great havoc. 'A report from Goulburn states that upwards- of 4000 sheep were burned on one station. Fences and outbuildings have been destroyed. Devastation has also been caused in the Waiburton district, where a number of sawmills and 14 cottages have been reduced to ashes. One man was suffocated and his fellow fire-fighters emerged from the ruins with Uieir clothes and eyebrows burned.

lIOMELESS FAMILIES.

SUFFERINGS AND LOSSES. ' PITIFUL FATE OF ANIMALS. (Received February 7. 7.5 p.m.) •MELBOURNE, Feb. 7. Disastrous bush fires in South Gippslantl have been chocked by rain, but the damage done is appalling. .Nearly 50 families are- homeless. They have lost everything and many have only scanty clothing. Numbers of people who escaped were almost blinded by smoke. Some women and children look refuge in a creek for five hours with burning branches and logs falling all round them. The cries of tortured half-burned animals were pitiful. Two Italians, their clothes on fire, plunged into Thompson River and when thev emerged not a stitch of clothing remained on them.