Battle To Control Fire At Eyrewell Forest

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31291, 10 February 1967, Page 1

Battle To Control Fire At Eyrewell Forest

An experimental burn-off at Eyrewell State Forest yesterday came within a few feet of setting alight a stand of mature trees. The fire, fanned by a north-easterly wind which increased in strength rapidly early in the afternoon, jumped one fire-break and was only just prevented from jumping another.

When the south-westerly edge of a 200-acre block of slash and waste timber was set alight so that it would burn more effectively by burning into the wind, the strengthening north-easterly carried the flames across a track into another block of waste.

The fire caught the second block on a corner facing a stand of mature timber and several spot fires in the waste threatened to send sparks into the trees.

Once some grass in front of the trees burst into flame but firemen quickly put the fire out. Although a close watch was kept on this section and thick smoke continued to swirl among the trees, there was never again any danger of the fire getting out of control. The spot fires which jumped the road continued to smoulder for some hours afterwards, but they, were kept in check and gradually extinguished. A block of 200 acres (block 42 and part of block 43), one of the areas worst hit by the north-westerly gale which flattened large sections of the forest in 1964, was to be burned off. The debris, large tree trunks and branches, had been collected into rows for safe burning and Forest Service staff was to set the block alight by an experimental method.

Seven hundred bags of jelly petrol linked by fastacting fuse were to be set alight in a central area of 35 acres.

This was the first time such a fire had been lit in the South Island, although the system had been used successfully on a small scale in the North Island. Observers were present from Southland, the West Coast, Oxford County, Ashley County, and other Canterbury reserves. The strip to be burned is one of two to be cleared for farms which will be managed by the Lands and Survey Department. Another block of 400 acres will be cleared by the same method later. FUSE DEAD

When the fuses were lit at 1.45 p.m. yesterday, they were found to be dead. They bad been placed in position more than two weeks ago and had become warped. The timber was lit by flame-throwers and burning brands. The bags of jelly petrol acted as the nucleus for a number of well-established fires. At the same time, the edges of the rows of waste timber in the block were fired at the south-west end. When the fires were first lit the north-easterly wind was blowing about five miles an hour.

By 2.30 p.m. the wind had increased to about 25 miles an hour and the flames were being blown across the access road to the north-west edge of block 43 adjacent to the mature timber of block 37. BLOWN ACROSS

Most of the rows of timber on the south-west edge of block 42 were blazing by 2.45 p.m. and sheets of flame were being blown across the

wide break on either side of the road.

Two rows on the north-west edge of block 43 burst into flame several yards down the row.

The 20 forestry workers and three fire-engines standing by for the bum-off rushed to the outbreaks. As the major fire was overcome firemen then attended to the second fire which was blazing furiously. Mr R. Kingi used a bulldozer to cut a fire break through the blazing row of timber while a chain of men manned pumps to extinguish the fire.

In fierce heat and in dense smoke from the 200 acres burning at their backs, about 15 men worked for three hours to control the blaze. By 5.30 p.m. they had done so. The Eyrewell Fire Protection Officer, Mr R. A. Collier, said the amount of fuel in each row in such a confined space, and the amount of small fuel among the logs, had made the rows bum more quickly.

Two engines and 20 men from Ashley were asked to

relieve the Eyrewell men and they did so soon after 6 p.m. About 4 p.m. Mr Kingi put in another break beside the controlled fire and it died rapidly. At 4.15 p.m., the first row to catch alight burst into flame again but was extinguished in a few minutes. Mr T. W. Moir, Fire Protection Officer at the head office of the Forest Service, Wellington, who was in charge of the experimental burn-off, kept an eye on the main 200 acres while Mr Collier and his men attended the other outbreaks. FOR WET AREAS

Mr Moir said the experiment was intended to discover whether burn-offs could be used by this method in wetter areas of the South Island such as Southland and the West Coast. “In spite of the outbreaks, the experiment has been a success because we have a lot of things we did not know before,” said Mr Moir. “The fuse was the trouble. We left it out for more than a fortnight and the rain and sun ruined it.”