Matlock

"George Sellars was the only survivor. Around him, fifteen of his mates died as the fire swept across the mill site."

By the beginning of 1939 there were four sawmills established just west of Mount Matlock. There had been smoke covering the Matlock forests for most of the preceding week, but no-one at any of the mills seemed to know from which direction danger might threaten. On the morning of 13 January, the operators of the boarding house at Richards' mill heard a radio bulletin warning that the fire was heading towards Matlock, allowing several of the mill residents to escape by car. William Fitzpatrick's mill nearby was still not finished, and those building the mill were able to construct a makeshift dugout in a belt trench and survive relatively unscathed. At Yellands' mill just to the east, the residents did not fare quite so well. At both this and at a previous mill site, Fred and Victor Yelland had used the availability of a brick house as an excuse not to build a dugout. When fire swept over the mill on 13 January 1939, Vera Maynard died when she was unable to escape from the house after it caught fire.

Just south of Yelland's mill was the mill of Jim Fitzpatrick, and here a full-scale disaster occurred. Scrub came right up to the borders of the mill and there was no dugout. By 3.00 pm on 13 January the mill site was shrouded in thick smoke and it was very dark. It soon became apparent that the fire was only about three miles away. The horses were placed in their stalls and the men took shelter behind the brickwork of the boiler as the fire swept over the mill site. They remained there until the heat became unbearable and they were forced out into the open. George Sellars was the only survivor. Around him, fifteen of his mates died as the fire swept across the mill site. The eight mill horses were caught in their stalls and died screaming. Sellars wrapped himself in a wet blanket and crouched in a small cleared spot for two and a half hours, resisting the temptation to run until the fire had completely passed. When rescuers arrived, he was only just alive.

The dead were James Fitzpatrick, Cecil Fitzpatrick, George Fitzpatrick, Joseph Rodgers, James Knuckey, James Howitt, Thomas Crowley, Walter Gladigau, John Wallace, George Osterman, Kevin Kearns, Alexander Kent, Michael Rogers, Henry Illingworth, and William Illingworth.

Read more about the Matlock deaths in the Royal Commission section