My thoughts and prayers goes out to everyone who is affected by bush fires, I know what it is like... My eldest sister and her family were burnt out in the 1967 bush fires in Hobart Tasmania Australia.... Thankfully they got out alive but they did have to rebuild their home they lost very thing. 125 separate fire fronts burnt through some 2,642.7 square kilometres (653,025.4 acres) of land in Southern Tasmania within the space of five hours. Fires raged from near Hamilton, Tasmania and Bothwell, Tasmania to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel as well as Snug. There was extensive damage to agricultural property near the channel, the Derwent Valley and the Huon Valley. Fires also destroyed forest, public infrastructure and properties around Mount Wellington and many small towns along the Derwent estuary and east of Hobart.
Death toll and damage
The worst of the fires was the Hobart Fire, which encroached upon the city of Hobart. In total, the fires claimed 62 lives in a single day. 52 people died in the Hobart area. Property loss was also extensive with 1293 homes, and over 1700 other buildings destroyed. The fires destroyed 80 bridges, 4800 sections of power lines, 1500 motor vehicles and over 100 other structures. It was estimated that at least 62,000 livestock were destroyed. The total damage amounted to $45,000,000 in 1967 Australian dollar values.[2]
while everyone was out fighting fires, my mum was in Hospital giving birth to yours truly, and that was 41 years ago.
