BUSH FIRES.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6926, 26 January 1906, Page 2

BUSH FIRES.

MANY LIVES LOST. SEVERAL FAMILIES MISSING. CHILDREN PERISH IN THE STREETS. MILES OF COUNTRY DEVASTATED. MELBOURNE, January 25.

The townofToora, situated on the banks of Muddy Creek, Gippsland, about 113 miles east of Melbourne, has had an appalling experience, bush fires causing enormous damage to property and the loss of several lives. Ou Tuesday night it was discovered that the bush on the western side of the township was ablaze, and prompt measures were taken in the hope of staying the progress of the tlames. Encouraged by the extreme dryness of the timber, an! fanned by a favouring breeze, the fire spread rapidly, and sweeping round Ruddle Range devastated a big stretch of timbered country. In the path of the conflagration there disappeared many homesteads, the inhabitants having to flee for their lives before the terrific onrush of the Hames.

The State school, a large building, and also the new Methodist Church, were destroyed. The flames, sweeping up the main street, overtook six children named Lonsdale, their ages ranging from three years to thirteen, and they were suffocated before the eyes of their mother, who was compelled to look hopelessly upon the destruction of her offspring. In another case a number of children, when returning home from school, became bewildered by the awful spectacle of the blazing country and the smoke from the burning timber, and rushed right into the fire. The mother of the children, becoming aware of their peril, raced to the rescue, and managed to save the youngcet child, quite a baby, while her eldest daughter, a girl of 17, was only saved through presence wf mind in getting into a creek, and remaining there until the fire had swept past her.

Great courage and resource was displayed by a teacher of the State school while the fire raged fiercely around that building. Being unable to remove them to a of greater safety, the teacher placed eighteen children under wet blankets, and, standing himself amid suffocating smoke and with the flames scorching him, kept throwing water over his charges until the danger had passed. He was thus instrumental in saving from a horrible death the whole of the eighteen children. The bridge which spans the Agnes River caught fire, and it is still burning. Flames enveloped the railway track, and when the train was proceeding to Melbourne at middav, tongues of fire leapt through the windows of the carriages. The train, however, escaped with little injury, and the passengers were not hurt beyond the fright caused by the perilous experience. Several families are reported to be missing. Two more bodies have been recovered. Between Foster and Welshpool, hundreds of people aro homeless ; but owing to the destruction of telegraph lines it is difficult to obtain fuller particulars concerning their losses.

The fire swept the country with appalling rapidity, annihilating farm houses, outbuildings, stock aud crops, and cutting off in many cases the avenue of escape for the settlers. At Woorara West the body of an invalid named Williams was found lying in the centre cf the road. Two settlers were attempting to carry the man to a place of safety when the fire came roaring down upon them. They struggled on, and their difficulties were added to by the struggles of the sick man. They made a desperate tight to save his life, but the time came when they had to abandon him and fight for their own lives. They eventually managed to reach safety. No liviug thing could stand the heal unprotected. Auimals dropped dead and withered before its fiery blast. Twenty men, women and children who took refuge in a four-roomed house at Berry were all more or less scorched by heat.

The death-roll at present is 14, but owing to the destruction of meaas of communication the list is incomplete, and may be much greater. MELBOURNE, January 26. Old residents in South Gippsland, who have had mauy experiences in bush fires, describe the present outbreak as the most terrible ever witnessed. While not as widespread as the great tire of 18 ( J8, or as destructive of property, it transcends all others in the appalling loss of life, and awful swiftness with which the lire swept over the country. It rushed over farms aud clearings, in an avalanche of fire and flames, shooting 150 feet high. It linked up forests of giant trees and dense scrub like magic. It was only a providential change of wind that saved the township of Clemson. The president of the Shire Council had a thrilling experience, and it is typical ol many others. lie was working some distance from his house, when he saw a wall of fire bearing do»vu on him. He rushed home, but the flames had a hold of the homestead almost before the in matey could get out. Eight look refuge in a galvauised tauk, and with the aid of wet blankets managed to survive the fiery ordeal although stock were dropping dead with the iuteuse heat.

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