AUSTRALIA: Calamity

Forest fires in the State of Victoria, southeastern Australia, fanned by high winds, last week became a Commonwealth calamity. Thousands of miles of timberland were burned black. The fires raged in some areas on 40-mile fronts. In Melbourne, sweating under a temperature of 114° (see p. 29), smoke came down so thick that visibility was limited to a block. It was dark by 3 p.m. in the country. Much of Melbourne’s watershed was devastated, increasing the probability that water consumption, already restricted because of the drought, would have to be further cut down.

Telephone and telegraph communications were cut. County hospitals received hundreds of men and women blinded by smoke. Thousands of farm homes were completely destroyed. Whole townships were evacuated. Roads were blocked by falling, burning trees. Ships in Melbourne Bay and railroads operated under fog conditions. From the air it looked as if the entire State was smoldering. Victoria’s dead were counted at 60.