PLANTATION FIRE AT HORORATA

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27876, 26 January 1956, Page 12

PLANTATION FIRE AT HORORATA

500 Acres Of Trees

Destroyed

FARMER SUFFERS BURNS

A fire destroyed 500 acres of pine trees, a tractor and a header six miles west of Hororata yesterday. A farmer suffered burns on his face and hands during the fire. The fire, which was still burning late, last night, also destroyed more than< five miles of fences and hundreds of acres of grass and scrub. Five hundred fire-fighters with fire units from Ellesmere, Dunsandel, Rakaia, Oxford and Darfield fought the fire relentlessly, but were unable to bring it under control. The fire started at 11.20 a.m. Two hundred fire-fighters, headed by the New Zealand Forest Service’s fire-fighting “crash squad” of 12 men from Nelson, dug in at vantage positions late yesterday to fight the fire all night. Seven hundred men in surrounding districts were on call in case the wind direction changed to > the northwest from the north-east. The senior forest ranger in Canterbury (Mr C. O. Bridgeman) said last night that if the wind had changed to the north-west yesterday the fire would have “burned through miles and miles of plantations.” An eyewitness of the fire said thdt it leapt from tree to tree at great speed. . . “We had no hope of stopping it, he said. “We built fire breaks with a bulldozer and two graders for more than three miles. But the best we could do was to direct the fire towards the Rakaia river a mile away. The fire could not jump * the river but a change of wind could cause Anything to happen.” The eyewitness said that the fire started when Mr H. Thorne’s tractor caught fire while he was heading cocksfoot six miles west of Hororota.

“Mr Thorne left his tractor to seek help but when he returned another fire had started from his cocksfoot header,” he said.

“The burning canvas on the header fell and Mr Thorne suffered burns to bis face and arms. People at a nearby farm house smothered bis burns with oil and he had to go to bed- But he was up arid about covered with bandages this evening to help direct the fire fighting.” The fire burned over two farm properties but fire fighters prevented it frorp spreading over another two. Women from Hororata and surrounding districts maintained a refreshment service Tor the fire fighters all day yesterday and last night.

SUNDAY’S FIRES FLARE UP A fire that destroyed an old home at Halswell on Sunday and another that destroyed a house at Harewood the same day flared up again yesterday. No further damage was done. Fire engines from Central Fire Station, St. Albans, and the Waimairi County Council quickly put out the Harewood fire, and units from the Central Fire Station and Paparua extinguished the Halswell fire. The fires are believed to have i estarted* from smouldering tufts of grass.