Real Climate Records

Gulnare, Yacka and Crystal Brook

Big Fires.

Red and Black Saturday MANY THOUSANDS of Pounds worth of damage was caused by two large Bushfires on Saturday. Dec. 19, and will go down in history as ‘Red and Black Saturday.

In the Guinare/ Yacka areas streams of fire-fighters, from many Mid-North and Northern

centres attacked the menace, and by nightfall the red menace was well under control.

Not before many crops and farms had been ravaged and’ thousands of Pounds damage done

to standing and bagged crops of wheat and barley, and hundreds of acres of good feed.

GULNARE OUTBREAK. With a 30/40 mile an hour wind, the fire at Guinare broke

out on Messrs. C. & G. Smart’s farm; swept into that of Mr. F. Siviour & Sons and denuded most of Siviour’s farm lands in which Mr. V. Jones had a share farming interest. The home of the Siviour’s was only saved by strenuous efforts. At Siviour’s the loss was about £5,000 where over 2.000 bags of wheat, still in the fields, were destroyed and about 65 acres of wheat in crop.

A large acreage of peas, unreaped, and lost by the Siviour’s. estimated at about 800 bags. Livestock was saved when driven to fallowed land.

Mr. Jones interests were severe also as he lost about 950 bags of wheat and 140 acres in crop in a 200 acre area.

YACKA CHIEF FIRE CONTROLLER HAS CLOSE CALL.

Sweeping from Guinare on toward Yacka a large team of fighters strove with might and main

against the fierce blaze, which jumped lanes and paddocks like a whirlwind — about 40 miles an

hour.

Mr. W. L. PengilJy, Chief Fire Control Officer for Yacka and Districts, and Mr. W. R. Goss, also of Yacka, were cut off at one time by the swiftly advancing wall of flame and had lucky escapes.

Telephone lines were down, and much fencing destroyed, and it will take a lot of hard work to

repair the ravages.

CRYSTAL BROOK BLAZE. With the therometer over 105 degrees, another fire broke out near Crystal Brook and rushed on its deadly way through intervening lands towards Yacka and

Guinare.

The damage here was also considerable, about £5,500, mostly on the farms of Messrs. R. Everett, M. Wilkins and M. B. Slattery.

Much barley and wheat, in the fields and in crops were destroyed.

Here again the fire fighters made a gallant showing in the high wind that blew North West

to South at about 40/50 miles an hour.

AGGREGATE LOSSES ABOUT £25.000.

A complete analysis of losses will take some time, but a conservative estimate of these two

fires might finally be £25.000. which would include much fencing, feed and farm requisites.