TRIAL BY FIRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 December 1921, Page 11

TRIAL BY FIRE.

SOLDIER DIES TO SAVE OTHERS. 20,000 SQUARE MILES SWEPT. Cable news a few days ago told of great fires that were raging in New South Wales. Further details came to hand with last week’s mails, and they show that an area of 20,0U0 sq. miles was swept by the flames, causing a great deal of damage and some loss of life. A young returned soldier was burnt to death at Cardiebig while trying to save his wife and two children. One of the children escaped by digging its way into a rabbit warren. Three sleeper-cutters were reported missing. MILLIONS OF ACRES SWEPT. Last Monday Dubbo reported that great fires were raging in the country north of the Oxley tableland, and extending thence to Beemery and Yambacuna, on the Darling, between. Bourke and BrewarrinaMooeulta also reported fires in all directions. It seems almost a certainty that all the grass and fencing in the triangle formed by the railway from Byrock to Bourke and Byrock to Brewarrina, with the Darling river as the base, ( will be destroyed. There is now very little of this country which is not already burnt out. # There are l«n> iimc 9 vi names along a line between Cobar and Wileannia, and fires are raging for 200 miles south of this line. Lerida, south-west of Cobar, was burnt out. Then the fire extended westward to Meadows Tank. From Meadows Tank west towards Barnarto, and thence to Bulla Bulla, is now one dreary waste. North-west from Cobar, in the direction of Louth, there is scarcely a holding on which fires have not broken out. From Yanda station, near Louth, fires are burning fiercely. ZONES OF FIRE. Another immense fire zone is the country between Nymagee, Tottenham, and Condobolin. A fresh outbreak has been reported from the Milaw4t property of Mr. Ryrie, and thence the flames are radiating and threatening the destruction of many hundreds of sq. miles of pasture. Another fire zone is the sparsely-set-tled country south-west of Nymagee, and on to Ivanhoe. The wind drove flames from Coan Down Station and Gilgunnia northwestward to Laehian Downs and Keewong, with the result that there is a likelihood of these flames meeting those in the Cobar district, and thus enormously extending the destruction. Several outbreaks were reported in the Nevertire and Warren districts, and nowhere is there any slackening in the progress of the fires.

SOLDIER SETTLERS RUINED. A message from Cobar states that an enormous area of country to the south-west of the town was swept, including Springfield, Keleno, Cowals, and Meadows Station. All fencing on these properties will be absolutely ruined. THUNDERSTORM STOPS FIRES. Thunderstorm rains of varying quantity put an end to the fires that have raged for several days in many parts of the Condobolin district. ENORMOUS FENCING LOSSES. Graziers in Sydney who know the West Bogan country, where most of the fires occurred, estimate that at least two million, and probably nearer three million acres have been swept already by the bush fires. So far the biggest loss, they point out, has been in the fencing. Hundreds of miles of it have been burnt, and the total damage on this score alone runs into tens of thousands of pounds. Out there the fences are mainly wire-net-ting, and six-wire. The former costs about £llO5 a mile, and the latter about £45. Some of the material will be fit for use but much of it will be damaged beyond re-use. Another trouble is that the s..eep on neighboring properties will be “boxed” through the burning of the boundary fences, and the sheep on the propertyj swept by the fire will be all mixed up, because the paddock fences have goneIt will take weeks and weeks to muster the stock again, involving much work and a lot of worry. It is not thought that the loss of stock will be very serious. Out there much of the country is mulga leaves, which will be falling off and afford food for the sheep. Some grass will grow very quickly, but what is hoped for is a good fall of rain, which will bring up the new feed and make the country safe for a while at least from fresh fires, besides feeding the stock. The fires have been particularly bad, because, it is pointed out, there was last year’s old grass as well as this year’s. In fact, there was also the accumulation of grass since the breaking of the drought, and it afforded a matted bed in which the fire could gather terriflic way. EFFECT OF LIGHTNING. It is now learnt that many of the recent fires of the outbreak were started by the lightning late on Saturday afternoon. At Mogriguy, 14 miles from Dubbo, on the Coonamble line, a tree was struck and set alight, and simultaneously the grass near by caught fire. The fiames then spread to a wheat crop, the property of Mr. R. Charles, but luckily a smart shower of rain came and extinguished the fire. From various parts of the west come report that the outbreaks there were caused by lightning on the same afternoon.