FIRES ROUND TAUPO

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24797, 11 February 1946, Page 4

FIRES ROUND TAUPO

LARGE FOREST AREAS GUTTED

TOWNS ENDANGERED (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Feb. 10. The fires which have been raging around Taupo since the middle of last month leaped completely out of control yesterday and have now ueveloped into a major disaster. A high wind rose into a driving gale last night, turning the flames into a blazing holocaust, which devastated huge areas of forest. Thousands of acres of standing timber have been sjvept, Heavy rain is the only thing which will stop the progress of the fires.. The danger, this morning, was stated to be moving north-east toward Whakatane, ana fears are also being felt for the extensive forestry estates on the road to Napier. Taupo was menaced several times yesterday, and although the main scene of the fire has now moved away, the safety of the town was stated to be dependent on the direction of the wind. Although the Wairakei and Spa Hotels were endangered last night, they were declared safe after a grim fight lasting several hours.' Two houses and their contents were destroyed at Rotokawa. Yesterday afternoon the fire jumped back and forth across the Waikato river, near Wairakei. Yesterday morning and early in the afternoon, the flames headed into Afforestation Proprietary Ltd’s. 25,000-acre block at Rotokawa. The fire cut a wide swathe through the pines, and the estimated damage is not yet known. During the afternoon, one of the most disastrous outbreaks to date 1 started when the flames attacked a 30,000-acre block of pines, owned by New Zealand Forest Products, Ltd. Hundreds of acres were devastated in a few minutes, and the task of quelling the outbreak was hopeless. The Taupo-Rotorua road was blocked for a time. Flames leapt more than 100 feet high, smoke billowed up to 1000 feet, and the landscape was alight for miles. This morning charred trunks were all that remained as far as the eye could see. Soldiers and sailors from the Waiouru Military Camp have arrived, and also bushmen from Putaruru', and fire engines from Wellington, Palmerston North, Rotorua, and Auckland. The flames are still being fought. A fire at a State forest at Oruanui, where there are 900. acres of totara and matai, was brought under control yesterday.