Firemen win battle against huge blaze

Press, 24 August 1976, Page 8

Firemen win battle against huge blaze

NZPA London English firefighters have won a 14-hour battle against a huge forest fire in the south of England which [caused the evacuation of 360 (patients from a geriatric [hospital.

■ Hundreds of troops, firemen, and volunteers saved St Leonard’s Hospital, Ringwood, after the blaze forced thousands to flee ! homes, caravan sites, and a [country club. Firemen were expected to keep a watching brief on the three square miles hit by the blaze on the Dorset-Hamp-shire border for several days.

The first alert was a minute before noon Sunday near the Matchams Park Country Club, about 3km from Ringwood.

The firefighters had the blaze surrounded early yesterday but, until it was brought under control, faced the danger of it breaking through their line. Most of the patients from St Leonard’s were safely in bed at the general hospital in Poole while the fire was still being fought. All 360 were safely evacuated, firstly to a school in Ferndown, near Bournemouth. The Hampshire fire situation was described last night as without parallel in peacetime. More than 160 fires broke out on Sunday. Hampshire and Dorset brigades ignored official boundaries to cope with the emergency — but 20 were still 1 raging at midnight.

Four in the New Forest were “very large.” The Huge Ringwood fire left a trail of chaos: At Hinnon Admiral, near St Leonard’s Hospital, two cottages were burned down | with a 79-year-old woman [escaping with just one “box •of treasures” salvaged from (the flames. i The exclusive Matchams iHouse Country Club and

two caravan sites were evacuated. Naturalists at a nearby camp quickly donned their clothes “and got the heck out of it.” Several main roads into the Bournemouth area were closed. Mainline rail services between London and Bournemouth were halted by several kilometres of blazing embankment. The Associated Press reported that fires were reported burning tinder-dry forests and moorland in five southern counties — Hampshire, Dorset, Kent, Sussex, and Norfolk — and Merioneth county in northwest Wales. Another big fire raged on the holiday island of Guernsey in the English Channel off the French coast. Firemen in Scotland’s West Lothian County said they put out a fire there on Sunday night after it had burned for 40 hours. Fire teams in Devon, which borders Dorset on England’s south coast, were put on alert as flames moved toward them. The Dorest Fire Chief (Mr Basil Roberts) said a strong east wind drove the Ringwood fire across woods and scrubland, houses had to be evacuated. “At that time we were devoting maximum effort to protecting the property but we were unable to hold the fire at that point and it spread into Hurn Forest. “It got into a corner of Matcham Forest and the flames were twice as high as trees. It was still being fanned by the wind in the direction of the hospital.” The hospital was put on alert. When the fire took hold in the forest the evacuation began. “At that stage all available appliances withdrew to align to protect the hospital itself. “The main danger was that the wind might veer to

■ the south-east in which case the hospital would have ■ been in a direct line. If the ■ wind had died the fire could ; have spread towards the hospital.” > At the height of the blaze ■ Mr Roberts had 150 firemen and 155 soldiers under his command as well as volunI teers. r Four firemen were taken ; to hospital, one suffering from burns to his hands, and ■ three overcome by smoke • and fumes. Last night it was believed that the fire started on a roadside verge when a child was thought to have dropped a lighted piece of paper into a bush. , : Dorset firemen used treated effluent to put out fires, as well as water from local swimming pools and . the main supply. The Wessex Water Authority trans- ■ ported partly cleansed water . from sewage farms to the fires. Local firms have also offered their private reser- [ voirs, a fire brigade spokes- . man added.