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Tuesday 8 January 1957
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Huge Fire Races Into Queensland
SYDNEY, Monday.-A huge busli fire burning in the far liorth-ivest of N.S.W. for the past five days lias swept across the Queensland border.
Another branch of the fire affected by change of wind to-day is sweeping to wards :".the township . of
Tibooburra.
Only flimsy reports of the fire on the Queensland side of the border have been received as all tele phone communications be tween the N.S.W, town of Hungerford and the fire front have been destroyed.
Officials of. the N.S.W. Bush Fire Committee con ferred with police and local government authorities in Sydney to-night to review
the situation.
They arranged for heavy roadmaking equipment to be rushed to the threatened area to clear fire-breaks.
More than half-a-million acres of sheep grazing land In N.S.W. has been burned out by the fire, and stock losses have not yet been estimated,;
B^urke police said to night that the fire was rag ing 60 miles north of Wan aaring or about 30' miles inside the Queensland
border.
They said the fire racing northward and westward was uncontrolled.
- -The dingo, fence between the two States had been burned, leaving N.S.W. open to a possible invasion.
No homesteads have yet been reported destroyed, but one man collapsed and died while patrolling a smouldering fire at Black Gate station, about 40 miles from Menindee on the Dar
ling Jtuver. .
He was John Galloway, owner of the station.
Reports from soutli-weat Queensland said nearly ex hausted fire-fighters wer* to-night fighting to savn Moombidary sheep station near the N.S.W. border,
Earlier, volunteers be lieved they checked a fire on Currawinya Station in the Hungerford district, but it leapt fire breaks anil surged towards Boombi dary.
To-night, stations 59 miles away reported they could see the glow from the fires.
About 100,000 acres of grassland has been lost to a fire which was checked to day at Zenonle Station, 4$ miles south of Thargomin
dali.
At Nevertire in N.S.WV about 700 volunteers fought throughout the night to check a widespread fire in heavily-grassed country.
Already 30,000 acre* have been burned out and miles of fences have been destroyed on at least If properties.