RUSH FIRES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 82, 17 January 1928, Page 6

RUSH FIRES

MENACE IN WESTLAND. EFFECT OF LONG DRY SPELL. (Per Press Association.) GREYMOUTH, January 16. Were an aerial photograph to be taken of the West Coast at the present time, the result would probably resemble a great bank of clouds. Practically throughout the Coast bush fires are burning in more or less serious proportions, and, were a gale to spring up, considerable damage to property would doubtless eventuate. A long spell o.Ldry, hot weather has made the usually damp vegetation like binder, and a carelessly-dropped match or cigarette butt is all that is required to start a bush, fire that will destroy many acres of the famed Coast scenerv.

The danger of fire is much greater at this season of the year, because picnic parties are overrunning all the scenic resorts, and , picnickers are apt to be careless people. The State Forest Service has done wliat it can to impress the care necessary for prevention ot fires, and reporting 1 to rangers any fires that so occur, by posting notices prominently. Nevertheless, the bush is burning various points all along the coastal region and smoke clouds are of sufficient density even to obscure the sun. Some fires may have been started by settlers desirous of clearing bush from their land, but in such cases the precautions that can be taken are usually carried out. Fires are reported right from Otira to South Westland, and smoke is so dense that the ranges cannot be seen from the sea coast, while the pall of smoke is overhanging Greymouth and other district centres. At Lake Kanieri yesterday, smoke obscured part of the lake itself, as w r ell as the surrounding hills, and the setting sun presented a queer spectacle, appealing as a blood-red orb of fire through the haze. The sawmill at Koliihu was reported yesterday to be menaced by bush fires, although the danger was unlikely to become serious unless the wind changed. It was commonly reported at Greymouth during the week-end that the accommodation house at Mitchell’s, Lake Brunner, had been destroyed by fire, but the 1 rumour was unfounded, arising through smoke from bush fires being seen across the lake by residents of the Moana locality. The barometer is still high, and there is as yet no prospect of rain. Water tanks( upon which many residents depend, are fast becoming low. Many of the smaller streams and creeks are drying up or have already ceased to flow, ancl dust clouds along the roads, due to the abnormally heavy motor traffic, are as dense as the smoke from the bush fires. Therefore, there is presented the unusual state of affairs of West Coasters praying for rain ; but the tourists are thoroughly enjoying the sunshine. There is no doubt, so far as the tourist traffic is concerned, that the spell of dry weather which has continued practically since the beginning of December last, is the best advertisement the Coast lias ever had. This season has been a record for the number of tourists visiting the Coast, but , the figures for next season should surpass those of this year very easily.