Fire did its worst, brought out the best

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 22

Fire did its worst, brought out the best

Country Diary

Derrick Rooney

The recent Oxford fire and its aftermath of community caring and co-operation were at once a heartwarming and a tragic episode. The fire was also the worst of many fires on the plains in a flve-week period that must rank as one of the most hazardous in living memory.

* The rains last week-end and midweek .» have temporarily ■ quenched the fears of central ‘ Canterbury residents, who are still nursing memories of what it. was like to be living on top of a «fuse. Many of them feel that 'despite the daily warnings issued *by the Fire Service and the * Forest Service, urban dwellers in simply failed to com- * prehend the danger. ’’ Hadn’t the province just had its wettest spring and early sum- * mer for years? Yes, it had, and that was one - of the reasons why the risk was £so high. Abundant spring growth ■ left more than the usual “top” on ’the paddocks; as the grasses a hot, dry January Z reduced them to kindling. You could hear it crackling underfoot when you stepped on jo a paddock. t Fires started for the most casual reasons — like a mower - Hade hitting a boulder. Even a ’’hot exhaust pipe might have * ignited a fire; some farmers kept ..all vehicles off their paddocks for weeks on this account Plan- * W

tation workers were instructed to keep to the tracks as much as possible, and park their vehicles on bare ground. One farmer’s wife said she had little sleep for three weeks. “I lay there all night, listening to the wind and wondering when a fire was going to start and how far it would go.” . Virtually the whole of the plains was ready to break into flames.

One rural brigade on the fringe of Christchurch answered 18 calls in five weeks. Bumham had a big fire. There were grass fires, stump fires, and plantation fires at Greendale, Hororata, Te Pirita, and elsewhere. Trees were burnt, haybarns were burnt

Most of these fires passed unreported by newspapers, radio, and television.

On the same night as the Oxford fire, several volunteer brigades, a private fire group from Mead, and Selwyn Plantation Board workers fought a big fire in a plantation and on a farm at Ardlui Road, Te Pirita; power lines arced in high winds, and the resultant spark ignited the plantation. An area of trees was destroyed, and the farmer lost a haybarn and a couple of paddocks.

Some of the volunteer firemen who were there had been out earlier in the day to another fire at Greendale. Plantation Board staff who had already put in a regular day’s work were recalled soon after they went home, and they fought the fire throughout the night They got no publicity, nor did the volunteer brigades. <■ Well, it’s over now, at least temporarily, but an interesting sidelight of all this has been a sudden public awareness of the

worth of both the volunteer brigades and, in some districts, local auxiliary units.

The latter are unofficial or semi-official fire-fighting units, sometimes just a , group of farmers who have clubbed together to buy a trailer-mounted pump and tank. Some county councils encourage these units, who may act as johnnies-on-the-spot in fires until the regular fire-fighters arrive.

The latest, and potentially one of the most effective, of these units has just arrived at windwhistle, and it has an interesting background of community co-operation and initiative.

It is a 1957 airport fire tender, once used at Christchurch Airport, and it has been acquired by the Snowden Fire Group as a result of a community project launched a generation ago. The tender, which has four-wheel drive and a tank capacity of 4500 litres, can deliver its entire load of water on to a fire in just two minutes.

The Snowden group has five members, all of whom are very new to the business of firefighting with this sort of machine. They have had a rudimentary unit for some years — basically just a trailer fitted with a water tank, a modest pumping capacity, and "gorse-gun” nozzles; all right for damping down a grass fire but not much use for tackling big stuff. . -

The "new” unit is a bit of a handful for a group of amateur firemen to handle, but I’ll get back to that .in a minute; first, there is the story of how they came to get it/ maybe not as: heartwarming a story as the one about the Oxford people who

rallied with support during and after the fire, but an attractive one because it is about people trying to prevent a disaster, not compensate for it - The story goes back about 25 years or, if you like, one forest generation. When roading changes were made at the Snowden RoadColeridge Road junction — beside the culvert known locally as the Black Bridge — a triangle of waste land was created on a neighbouring property. At the instigation of the then owner, the area was vested in the county as an endowment • reserve, to be used for the benefit of the district Local farmers clubbed together, to plant it in trees to provide an

income for some future project A constitution was drawn up, and officers were elected to administer the reserve under the aegis of the Malvern County Council.

As often happens with community projects, interest waned as some of the instigators retired, moved away, or died, and although the constitution called for annual meetings, periods as long as 15 years elapsed between meetings. This of course made no difference to the trees, which continued to do the job for which they were planted: they grew, and they grew, and they grew. A couple of years ago there was a revival of interest in the reserve, a meeting of residents was held, and clear instructions

were issued to the committee: sell. The timing couldn’t have been better, because the logs went off to a sawmiller at the peak of the market and the district suddenly found itself with some $64,000 held in trust by the county. According to Tony Tripp, the district’s representative on the council, some fanciful suggestions were made for using the money, but the practical ones boiled down to two: a fire engine and a cover for the swimming pool at the Windwhistle School. These were transmitted to the council for approval. Meantime, the fire group learned from a contact that a "retired” airport fire tender was available from the Government

Stores Board. The group’s secretary, Colin Gould, found the red tape about as easy to penetrate as a matagouri thicket in a hailstorm, but he eventually got through, and persuaded the board to accept the group’s offer of $2OOO for the unit At nearly 30 years, the truck was somewhat older that the younger museum pieces at Ferrymead, it had broken axles which prevented the four-wheel drive from working, arid one engine bearing was burnt out But all concerned regarded it as a snip.

Feeling that time was of the essence, the group completed the deal before receiving formal approval from the council, and as a result it copped, in Tony Tripp’s words, “a bit of flak” in the council. But the purchase had the support of neighbouring volunteer brigades and of the Selwyn Plantation Board, which now has extensive plantations in the area, and the council subsequently gave its blessing. t

For the Windwhistle volunteers, the first priority now is to learn to use the machine. Though recognised as an auxiliary unit by the county, they have no official standing with the Fire Service and none of the five farmers in the group has had any formal training in firefighting or in handling the pump and hoses which, at the volumes and pressures of water the unit can put out, could be a pretty wild

experience. However, they have been promised help and tuition by the two nearest volunteer brigades — at Hororata and

Coalgate — and this week the three had their first joint practice.

The volunteer brigades have also given tangible help In the form of hoses and nozzles, and the plantation board has paid for the mechanical overhaul, which was done locally, at the Windwhistle Garage. The county will pay standing costs, such as insurance.

All in all, it’s been a pretty useful example of district cooperation. Next on the list is a building to house the truck. Present plans, according to the fire group’s chairman, Bruce Nell, are for a structure which will enclose the school, pool, leaving room for an < extension from its present 10-metre length, and will have an annex in which the engine will be stabled. Why cover the pool? Mainly, says Mr Nell, because Wind whistle, as you might guess from the name, has a fair few windy days every year and the chill factor restricts the number of days on which the pool can be used. Enclosing the pool will greatly increase its use and might make it possible to ensure that every pupil learajio swim. This part of the scheme has yet to receive formal approval from the county, but no problems are expected. In the meantime, the fire unit is being housed in a spare shed on Mr Nell’s property, and the fire group will use this as a base.

The reserve, by the way, is going to be recycled. The plantation board has offered to replant it in trees and tend them on behalf of the district rsssK

Help was on the way