WORST IN HISTORY BUSHFIRES DEATH ROLL 21. 14 Jan 1939. The charred bodies of 19 more bushfire victims were found yesterday bringing the death toll to 21 in the most disastrous fires in Victoria within living memory.
WORST IN HISTORY (1939, January 14). The Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 – 1954), p. 16. Retrieved July 7, 2023, from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37246848/4138392#
BUSHFIRES DEATH ROLL 21.
MELBOURNE. Thursday.
The charred bodies of 19 more bushfire victims were found yesterday bringing the death toll to 21 in the most disastrous fires in Victoria within living memory. At least 22 other people are missing. Many of the 18 who are missing In the lower part of the Rubicon Valley are almost certainly dead.
The bodies of eleven men were discovered yesterday morning in the Rubicon forest where four mills have been wiped out on the Acheron way, east of Narbethong, seven people were burnt to death while fleeing from their disabled cars. Fires continue to rage over a wide area of the State.
Bush fires which caused heavy losses in South Australia are now under control.
MISSING PEOPLE ALIVE
MELBOURNE, Friday
Though 20 persons were missing in various bush fire areas on Wednesday, all have been found alive. The fires abated throughout the central area yesterday, but hot north winds which are predicted for to-day should again whip them into violent life. In the meantime, new fires are burning fiercely in the mountainous north-east corner of the State. They have jumped the Murray River at Tintaldra and have spread to the Tumbarumba area in New South Wales. An official estimate of the damage to standing timber is 1,000,000. It is expected that when a full assessment can be made, private losses will be over £150,000. Damage by bush fires in South Australia is estimated at £200,000.
FATE OF 100 PEOPLE UNCERTAIN
MELBOURNE, Friday Night.
Bush fires continue to burn In many parts of the State. The fate of 100 men, women and children at Ezard’s Mill near Erica, is uncertain. Relief parties have been driven back by a solid wall of flame.
TOWNSHIPS THREATENED.
ADELAIDE, Friday Night.
Serious fires have again broken out near Adelaide and, swept by a hurricane wind, have Jumped the Onkarparlnga River and are now bearing down on the township of Echunga.
Already about 152 square miles of country has been swept bare and residents are evacuating Echunga.
The fate of Meadows township, which is in heart of the fire zone, is unknown.