BURNED TO DEATH

Taranaki Daily News, 16 February 1926, Page 7

BURNED TO DEATH

AUSTRALIAN BUSH FIRES RAGING.

FULL EXTENT OF CASUALTIES UNKNOWN.

FLAMES WIPE OUT SEVERAL TOWNS.

ENORMOUS DESTRUCTION WROUGHT.

Loss of life and widespread destruction have been caused by bush fires in Australia.

The complete casualties are not known, but the latest figures state that sixteen have been burned to death and several others are missing. Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage has been caused. Many had to flee for their lives and are homeless and destitute. Relief measures have been organised.

SIXTEEN LIVES LOST. SEVERAL REPORTED MISSING. MELBOURNE CIRCLED BY FIRES. RELIEF MEASURES DIFFICULT. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Feb. 15, 10.5 p.m. Melbourne,- Feb. 15. Sixteen people have been burned to death and seven are missing as the result of the forest fires. Details of the casualties are meagre. Ten were burned to death in a fire at Gilderoy, near Warburton. Another death is reported in Erica. Hundreds have been left homeless and destitute.

The casualty list to date states that Walker, his wife aiifl their two children, Sydney Johns. Herbert Johns, Bert Sandham, a baby named Dunean, and two men, Linday and King, were burned to death at Gikleroy. Albert Munson, Joseph Johnson, Joseph Walker, L. Roberts, J. Walker, a man named Rowe and his wife, and Clarence Rowe, of the same district, are missing. The injured include King ami Mrs. Duncan, McDonald and his wife find their two children, who are burned, and a man named Rowe, who has been blinded. Additional casuality lists state that Peter Olsen, his wife and their three children were burned to death at Moojee. TOWN WIPED OUT. Many people suffering from burns ate arriving at the Melbourne hospitals, but communications are so disorganised that it is impossible so far to issue complete casualty lists. Melbourne is surrounded by bush fires, which are fed by a gale raging at fifty miles an hour. This carried a thick pall of dust and smoke over the city, and the sky reflected the fires, which are on a fifty miles front. The town of Noojee, Gippsland, was swept by fire and has been practically wiped 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 Rubison forest is on fire, and at Sherwbod forest, which is also ablaze, £50,000 worth of damage

has been caused and seven years’ work on plantations undone. The conflagrations are the most serious for twenty years. Families are abandoning their homes and fleeing in all directions.

At Noojee men, women and children were compelled to huddle in the river all day. Relief operations were greatly retarded owing to the destruction of the railway bridges, forcing relief trains to return. Temporary repairs were later effected, enabling trains to get through, but to reach them the 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 £lOO,OOO. FAMILY BURNED TO DEATH. The police state that the fire in the Dandenong Ranges, which has nearly demolished Beaconsfield, Upper Beaconsfield and Berwick, was caused by a party of men on a fishing expedition in a prohibited creek. Twelve bodies have so far been recovered, and the police state that more will be found as the relief parties search the. burnt-out regions. One report states that a family of live were ineinwaltd near Warragul, Gippsland. A party of seventy men encamped at Bunyip had to run for their lives. They only just escaped. i Most of the refugees tell of appalling I experiences. Blazhig fragments were [falling on them as they sheltered in the river and creeks. Rain has now commenced in some areas. A message from Adelaide states that a bush fire at Mount Pleasant endangered the town. Flames started in the hills and swept down on Mount Pleasant, fanned by a fierce gale. A second fire broke out and the two, joining forces, burned out farms, telegraph poles and fencing. Despite the efforts of a thousand firefighters, the flames swept into the town, destroying the Anglican Church and badly damaging a large number of buildings. Nearly thirty thousand acres of valuable country have been destroyed. THE DEATH ROLL DOUBLED. AN UNCONFIRMED REPORT. Received Feb. 16, 1.25 a.m. Melbourne, Feb. 15. An unconfirmed report states that 32 people were burned to death in the forest fires.