FIERCE BUSH FIRES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1716, 18 January 1905, Page 53

FIERCE BUSH FIRES.

TEMPERATURE 125 DEGREES IN THE SHADE. SEVERAL LIVES LOST. * GREAT DAMAGE DONE. (From O'ur Own Correspondent.) AllrLß <j UiiNE, January 6. The year 1905 lias b.en usnered in by a wave of fierce heat, winch will bo remembered for some time by the consequences whicli remain behind it. During the preceding portion of this summer Victoria has enjoyed ail the pleasures of a warm but temperate chmate, and until this last- week there has hardly been any day of what couid be called excessive heat. There lias, however, been little ram, and during the last two months the country lias been steadily drying after the spring rains. It was then quite ready ior the heat wave whicli has just passed over it, and nothing more was needed to show the inflammable nature of the country after a spell of prolonged dry weather. The lirst sign of unusual heat appeared on Chris'mas Eve, when the thermometer made its way up to 102 degrees in the shade, but a change camo up during tlm afternoon, and Christmas was passed under pleasant climatic conditions. This burst of beat , however, was not of the same nature as that which followed —it was of a moist, sultry and muggy kind, which is always spoken of in Melbourne as the “Sydney heat,” being much more common in Sydney than in [Melbourne. Under such conditions everything seems clammy and moist —everything sticks and clings to one—and the lightest clothing is burdensome and uncomfortable, and altogether the muggy heat is much more intolerable to human comfort than the dry, burning furnace-like heat which followed the Christmas season. It commenced to make itself felt on the Friday before New Year, when the temperature m Melbourne reached 98 degrees. This was, however, a faint indication of the heat throughout the country. The coastal clouds which obscured the' sun in the metropolis and the mitigating sea - breezes -did not lend any assistance to the inland districts, and the north wind, which was sweeping over the parched country, blew as from a furnace-blast, and seemed to breathe out tongues of fierce heat as it passed along. The result was that record readings were shown —Mildura, in the far n-orth, heading the list with a. shadeheat of 1211 degrees, and a sun heat of 183 degrees. All along the Murray border high temperatures were recorded, varying from 110 degrees to 120 degrees. To add to the discomfort, several bush fines started, their origins being, as usual, meshy unknown, and the settlers, besides having to bear the fierce heat, had to sustain a continued struggle against the advance of the fiies. Saturday brought a cool change to Melbourne, but the country had to bear the burden of an increased heat. The hot wind still continued, and the temperature remained at the high standard of the days before. ■ Bern gun, on Uie far side of the orurray, sweltered under the doubtful shade of 125 degrees. tin'll fires started in all directions, and rushed along at fierce rates, carrying destruction with them. Outbreaks occurred in all the northern districts; and no sooner was one fire overcome than another started. The grass country seemed as if under a burning-glass, and ignited without warning. In coinbating these flies, many of the settlors passed the day. At Seymour, in the north-east, the firo assumed tremendous proportions. It swept over the grassy hills with alarming rapidity, and travelled at the rate of eiecht miles an hour. It gained in breadth a.s it went, and at one time presented a front of forty miles. Homesteads were gathered into it, and at every point the fire-fighters, after a hard struggle, had to retire to try and check it at fresh places. Several homes were rescued by " gallant struggles. Stock and fencing, and grass and crop were sacrificed in the flames. Hoi-ses, ca + tle, and dogs perished after terrible agony, the animals in many oases piunging madly into the flames. The bleating was piteous to hear, and in many cases those that have survived are bind, and some even have their hoofs bu'-nt MF. In many places, even where fires were not raging, poultry and birds fell dead, and wild birds took shelter in culverts from the sun, and even in houses. At Obi it err, a fierce fire started, and telegrams were sent to the townships in the neighbourhood for assistance. Dray-loads of willing helpers arrived, and a special train, containing a b.md of twenty-five fire-fighters, was desnatched.

The fire was soon raging with groat, vehemence, and all efforts to cheek it were useless. The workers had to concentrate their endeavours on saving the different homesteads that were thr-eat-

ened, and in some instances the flames had to be beaten back from the vcij doors. At Avoca 400 beaters we e engaged in continuous efforts from Thursday till Sunday, with bat a few intermissions, during whicli they had to remain in readiness tor fresh outbreaks. Notwi J hstanding the efforts of such a number, the fire devoured sixteen miles of country. At Sir Rupert Clarke’s sta. tion, near Romsey, 20,000 acres of grass were burnt, and many hundreds oi sheep perished. At one time there was g>v?at danger of the valuable stud cattle and sheep being lost. Sir Rupert’s brother, Mr Robert C larke, who j manages the estate, was severely burned, and his horse narrowly escaped serious injury. To attempt to describe the events of each district would be but repetition. In all the northern districts the same story is told. The same scorching atmosphere for the three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with the fairly general cool change during [Monday. In all quarters fierce fires raging and numerous settlers combining to thwart its fury with heroic efforts, resulting directly in three fatalities and many injuries. Homes burnt out, stock, implements, haystacks, stored wheat, fencing, all gone, and barren waste taking the' place of sai ling pastures and crops. Numerous cases of sunstroke and heat apoplexy have been recorded, many of them necessitating hospital treatment and three terminating fatally. Stories of narrow escapes from death are numerous. Some people remained for hours in the rivers, others in tanks. People driving had the rugs, etc., burned in the Hap. One girl, seeking futile' protection under an umbrella, had it burned over her head a.s she drove madly along with the flames pursuing. % Snakes and rabbits and wallabies lie dead in hundreds. Everywhere* ruin is left in the wake of wild fires, which lit up the sky for miles, and made the hill gorgeous with flame, and filled the flats as with a sea of fire. The damage cannot yet be estimated, but it will nearly approach that of the terrible' fires of 1898. It is not as great, however, on this occasion, as the heat w * v*e did not extend as far south as that of 1893, which enveloped the who!-' State, and was of longer duration. On that occasion the fires made their presence felt in Melbourne by the density of the smoke, made memorable by the' fact that an international test cricket match, on the Melbourne Cricket Ground, had to be postponed on its account. The a*ea affected this year is not so large as then, but many a station-owner, farmer, grazier, and settler can stand at his doorstep* and loek out as it were into' the vista of the new year, and see a blackened waste, littered with the bones of his dead stock, and marked by the ruin of his fences, his. implements, and his sheds, and in some cases a mound that holds the bones of a member of his household sacrificed in the struggle.