BUSH FIRES NEAR ROTORUA

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24149, 7 January 1944, Page 6

BUSH FIRES NEAR ROTORUA

MAORI TROOPS CALLED OUT

THREAT TO STATE FOREST ABATES BY EVENING

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, January 6. Further concern was caused in the Rotorua district in an entirely new direction this morning, when fire broke out in the country bordering Lake Tarawera between Green Lake and Mount Tarawera. The fire spread rapidly through the dry undergrowth and threatened the caretaker’s house at Lake Tarawera and the vicinity. At one stage at Lake Tarawera the caretaker’s house and the hutments were completely encircled. Later the fires started to swing toward the tea rooms at the Buried Village and the scrub country surrounding it. The continuation of the fire created a serious menace to the Governmentplanted forests edging the Blue and Green Lakes. A forestry fire patrol sent an urgent call to the commander of some Maori troops and a detachment was quickly sent to the scene, complete with steel helmets and fire fighting equipment. The detachment cut firebreaks and took other precautions. Towards evening the threat had abated.