VICTORIAN BUSH FIRES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 February 1939, Page 5

VICTORIAN BUSH FIRES

EXPERIENCES OF NEW ZEALANDER.

SETTLERS’ TERRIBLE ORDEAL.

A vivid account of the recent disastrous bush fires in Victoria was given to members of the Masterton Rotary Club at yesterday’s luncheon by Mr J. Manning, of Wellington, who was a visitor to the State at the time.

The shade temperature ranged from 102 to 117 degrees and the fires travelled at a terrific rate, as much as 20 miles per hour or even more, said Mr Manning, who went on to state that while he was visiting Yallourn, in Victoria, there was a great influx of kangaroos and wallabies. Residents immediately looked round to ascertain where the fire was, as it was obvious that these animals had been driven out of their haunts by a conflagration. All cars visiting the town were ordered to leave and were given a route by which to travel. About half-a-dozen cars went by a different route. The first car encountered a fallen tree across the road and the occupants left the car to continue the journey on foot. Six more cars pulled up behind and their occupants did likewise. Every one of these people perished, though if they had remained with their cars they would probably have escaped, as the cars were not damaged. , The usual practice to check the fires was to burn back, said Mr Manning, but, largely on account of the panic that seized many\of the people and their inexperience, this step only resulted in spreading the fires, which were thus assisted to cross roads that might have proved a fire-break. Ten or eleven houses were burnt down as the result of burning back operations. Mr Manning srfid in one bush viL lage the inhabitants had to dig a trench and to plaster mud on the faces and hands of the children to give them protection. In another case a man sought refuge in a water tank and was boiled alive. The heat wave was so intense at the time that a glassful of water, spilt on a hotel floor, dried up in four minutes. It seemed that the whole of Australia was on fire, the area swept being 800 square miles, over which there was nothing but smoke. In some places the fire travelled along the tops of the trees and in others it ran along the ground and left the trees.

The number of deaths, said MiManning, was far greater than that reported in the papers. He believed that they totalled 130. Mr Manning gave instances of the remarkable growth of vegetation that followed the rain which fortunately set in when the fires were burning. After one day of fog and rain, absolutely bare ground was covered three days later with grass Ij inches high. Sixteen days after the fire the country resembled an oat crop in New Zealand. Mr Manning said he flew by aeroplane over the area affected by the fires and gained an impressive view of the devastation that had occurred.