FIRE IN BEECH FOREST

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26985, 10 March 1953, Page 10

FIRE IN BEECH FOREST

BLAZE CONTINUES TO SPREAD (New Zealand Press Association) INVERCARGILL, March 9. Fire today ale further into section of a valuable State beech forest plantation of 100,000 acres off the Eglinton valley road in spite of the efforts of fire-fighting crews, who have had no water to combat the blaze m the last three days. Several dozen men from the New Zealand Forest Service, the Lands and Survey Department, and the Ministry of Works are on the spot, but the dryness of the vegetation and the difficulties of the area have kept the fire out o“f control. Two attempts are being made to isolate the blazing forest with a bulldozer, but the usual methods of firefighting in this case are out of the question. The Conservator of Forests for Southland and. 'Otago (Mr P. A. Reviers) said' in Invercargill today that an inspection of the fire at close range was being made by the chief ranger (Mr N. S. Murrell), who went to Te Anau today. , . ' Mr Reviers said that the fire which began last week on a scenic reserve about a mile from the road .which leads into the Eglinton valley fiordland, had destroyed scrub and forest ‘ in an area between 1000 and 2000 acres. No tracks lead into the fire area, W/hich is too far from the road to alIdw mechanised equipment to be taken in. It is a dry, waterless region, and crews cannot use pumps. • The fire, at times, has burned on a two-mile front, although this has never ’ been a solid wall of flame. Aided by a bulldozer, the fire-fight-'ers are felling and cutting back growth, and smothering burning material. Beating is not being carried lout extensively because of the danger of the fire spreading.