FIRES REVIVED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 31, 6 February 1943, Page 6

FIRES REVIVED

FANNED BY BREEZE NORTHLAND POSITION (0.C.) WHANGAREI, this day. With temperatures the hottest in years and the return of a strong westerly breeze, fire hazards in the Northland have revived, especially in the Pipiwai area, where the danger is regarded as acute. Apparently without reason, the fire in the 4000 acres of bush controlled by Messrs. C. R. Lovatt and Sons. Ltd., burned itself cut on top of Kauri Ridge. It swept through the bush so quickly that little damage was done to the standing timber, most of the trees being scarcely scorched, although the whole carpet of the forest, together with undergrowth, is gone. An ominous development, however, is that the fire has taken a new lease of life on Mr. F. C. Ross' estate adjoining. Leaping the Kaikou Road near the old Morningside Timber Company's mill, it entered a great expanse of bush, extending almost to the Maori settlement at Motatau, nearly four nines awav. Intervening are old workings from which 3,000,000 ft cf timber have been taken, and the area in green bush abounds with old logs and dry undergrowth. Old Mill Demolished Amid the smoke and glare it is difficult to ascertain what exactly lias occurred. ' Appearances are that when the fire crossed Kaikou Road it demolished both the old Morningside mill and the house adjoining, occupied by a Maori family. The dwelling of Mr. Penney, further up the road, was a total loss. A portion of Mr. R. D. Finlayson's back country has been swept, and the cottage on the property of Mr. F. McDonald is endangered. Settlers have removed their stock from the borders of the bush, and are keeping all-night vigils. At Waipu the sheep fair was interrupted by a call for volunteers to save the homestead in Mr. Finlayson's block. Twenty men responded and the kindling of a back fire checked the flames within a short distance of the house. £10,000 Damage Caused Damage estimated at £10,000 was caused by a fire which swept from Waipapakauri along the fringes of the Kaitaia swamp to Ahipara, through the State fir plantations established in the past six years. Marram grass planted to prevent the spread of sand dunes was also burnt.