BUSH FIRES.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 February 1926, Page 2

BUSH FIRES.

MELBOURNE SURROUNDED. TOWNS BURNT AND MANY DEATHS. [Australia & N.Z. Cable Association.] MELBOURNE, February 15. Ton people were burned to death in the forest fire at Gilderoy, near Warburton. Another death is reported in Erica. Six people are also reported missing. Hundreds of people are left homeless and destitute. Reports so far are meagre, but tho casualty list to date states that Mr Walker, his wife and two children, Messrs Sydney Johns, Herbert Johns, Bert Sandman, Bahy Duncan, and two other men, named Lindsay and King, have been burned to death. Albert Munson, Joseph Johnson, Joseph Walker, L. Roberst, J. Walker, M. Rowe, and his wife, and Clarence ' Rowe are missing. The injured include: Mr King and Mrs Duncan, Mr MacDonald and his wife and two children, burned; and Mr Rowe (blinded!. The bus'll fires surrounded Melbourne. They were fed hy a gale raging at tho rate of 50 miles an hour, which carried a thick pall of dust and smoke over the city. The sky has reflected the fires, which were on a fifty-miles front. The town of Nojee, in Gippsland, has been swept by the fire, and has been practically wiped out. A relief train was unable to get

through. The town of Droydon is still in danger.

; A message from, Alexandra states i the whole of Rubicon Forest is afire, 1 and that at Sherwood Forest, which is > also abliwe, fifty thousand pounds , worth of damage has been caused, and ] seven years’ work on the plantation undone. The conflagration is the most serious

for twenty years, and there are families abandoning their homes and flee--1 ing in all directions. MELBOURNE, February 15. Later details of the forest fires show that lfi people were burned to death and seven are missing. Additional casualty lists state that Peter Olsen, his wife and three children were burned to death at Nojee.

Many people suffering from burns are arriving at the Melbourne hospitals but the communications are so disorganised that it is impossible so far to issue any complete casualty lists. At Xoiec, the men, women and children wore compelled to huddle in the liver all one day. Belief operations have been greatly retarded owing to the destruction of railway bridges forcing the relief trains to return. Temporary repairs were later effected, enabling trains to get through, but to” 3 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 now set out for the devastated region. A conservative estimate of the damage in the Nojec region is one hundred thousand sterling. The police state that the fire on the Dandenong ranges, which nearly demolished Beaconsfield, Upper Beaconsfield and Berwick, was caused by a party of men on a fishing expedition in a prohibited creek. Twelve dead bodies have so far been recovered. The police state that more dead will he found as the relief parties search the burnt-out regions. One report states that a family five were incinerated near AVarrague, Gippsland. A party of seventy men encamped at Buiivip had to run for their lives. They only just escaped. Most of the refugees tell of appalling experiences, blazing fragments falling on them ns they sheltered in the rivers and creeks. Bain has now commenced in some areas. FOREST FIRE DEATHS. MELBOURNE, Feb. 16. Unconfirmed reports state that 32 people were burned to death in the forest fires. IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. ADELAIDE, February 1.5. The bush fires at M.ount Pleasant endangered the town. The flames started in the hills and swent down on

Mount Pleasant. They wore fanned hy fierce gales. A second lire then broke out, and the two, joining forces, burned out farms and telegraph poles, and despite the efforts of a thousand fire fighters, the llanics swept into the town. The fire destroyed the Anglican Church and Imdly damaged a large number of other buildings. Nearly thirty- thousand acres of valuable country has been destroyed. PEOPLE’S TERRIBLE HARDSHIPS. LOSS OF LIFE MORE THAN ANTICIPATED. (Received this day at 10.25 a.m.l MELBOURNE, February 1(1. Relief parties have been sent out from Warburton in motor cars to rescue settlers whose homes have been burnt and who, probably, are without food. Large numbers of women and children half stupefied by the smoke and their terrible experiences, were seen sitting along the roadside waiting helplessly for assistance. A search party which went into the mined Powell Forest found the charred bodies of fourteen persons close together, these being mostly men employed in flic timber industry. At Erica twenty houses and four timber inUis were destroyed. It is feared that further loss of life has occurred at Knott, which although only four miles from "\\alhalla. is not reachable owing to the fire still burning on the only road. The telephone wires are also dowij. Thirty persons have not been accounted for in the immediate vicinity of Walhnlla.

Tile latest reports from Warragnl state the loss of life in the NoojecNayak area will probably he greater than at first anticipated as it is feared that most persons at present posted as missing have succumbed. The whole district, extending from Bunyip to Dnrnum on the main Gillslancl line and from Nayook to Noojee on the spur line from Warragnl appears to have been a blazing inferno and the fact that the Warburton fire spread quickly and linked up with that of Noojee, cutting of a possible route of escape for the settlers. In addition to Noiec, it is reported that three small settlements have been wiped out and at least twelve mills destroyed in the district. The number of houses burned exceeds the total of two hundred. Most of the refugees arc suffering from burns and partial suffocation. Messages of sympathy have been sent to the affected areas by the Governor and Premier. A relief train with blankets and mattresses has been despatched. MELBOURNE, February 16. As far as can lie ascertained at present twenty-eight people have been burned to death bv hash fires. It is feared, however, the number will be greatly exceeded. The fires are the greatest that have been experienced since 1800. The centres which suffered most were Warburton, where fourteen deaths occurred, Pato Creek with seven deaths. Noojee with five, Erica with two. In addition more than thirty persons who are unaccounted for in the Warragnl area alone, while no estimate lias lieon formed of the number; still not located in other centres in Gippsland. In addition to a large mortality list incalculable damage to property and live stock has resulted as well as the destruction of many square miles of valuable timber. Settlers homes in all parts of the State have been destroyed in largo numbers. The town of Noojee was wiped out. Only for the fact that one brick building withstood the fury of the fire, all the inhabitants must have been hurned. t Five post offices have been dcstroyed and several schools. The telegraph and telephone services are so dislocated that many centres, where it is feared damage to life and property lias occurred, cannot he communicated with. Many fires are still raging, though the strong wind has dropped. Rain is the only hope in many centres. The forecast, however, is not promising. Refugees and homeless children, who passed through the most harrowing experiences, are pouring into the larger settlements in search of food and shelter.

FATALITIES AND DAMAGE

(Received tliis day at 11.0 a.m.) AIELBOURNEi, Feb. 10. Tt is impossible as yet to gain a detailed mortality list. At Erica, an old man named Fisk was caught in the (lames. He tried to climb into a boiler, but the fire overcame him. IV. Collins was also burnt to death. E. Bull (President of the Victorian Branch of the Telegraph Union), while fighting a fire collapsed and died. .Tames Lang dropped dead from over exertion, heart failure and Heat. A fire burning on a forty mile front along Plenty ranges has broken into five sections threatening Queenstown, St. Andrews, Arthur’s Creek, Greenville and iKinglakc. About Queenstown and Flowerdab the fire is still uncontrolled. Humedale is threatened and Queenstown is isolated. Between ICingland and St. Andrews, hundreds arc fighting to keep the fire down, but they arc gradually being forced hack. At Xoojee about fifty people took refueo in Xatrobe river and stayed there nine hours till the danger had passed. Five high trestle railway bridges on Warragul line have been destroyed.