BIG GORSE FIRE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 82, 31 December 1940, Page 8

BIG GORSE FIRE

Melrose Blaze Covers Hundreds Of Acres PALL OF SMOKE OVER CITY .Elderly Women’s Home Endangered Heavy smoke rolling over Wellington last evening originated from one of the. most extensive and spectacular gorse (ires that has occurred in the nearer suburbs of the city during recent years. Raging from two in the afternoon till the early hours ol this morning, it consumed some hundreds of acres ol gorse between Melrose and Houghton Bay. Averted by a change oi wind and the efforts of tire-fighters from the houses along the summit of the Lyll, on Buckley Road, it threatened with destruction the Salvation Army’s Eventide Home for elderly women. .Mersey 'Street.

The origin of the lire was not known to those lighting the Hames, but it was understood to have started early in the afternoon on the lower slopes near Highgate Road. ['Tinned by a fresh northerly breeze. it raced up hillsides and gullies, crackling through the heavier si amis of gorse. Toward the end of the afternoon it was advancing on a group of houses on Buckley Road. Not till then was the tire brigade summoned. Fire Engines Arrive. The first engine ><> answer tlie call was from Constable Street. On arrival, it was soon seen that the crew would be insufficient to police the outskirts of the large area now burning. A second engine was summoned from Miramar, and this was followed by a van from Constable Street, A relief party was sent, by truck from Constable Street to enable those on the scene to snatch a meal. The reinforcements joined in the tussle, and the men they had come to .relieve carried on.

The fire jumped Buckley Roa'd and entered gorse and dry grass on the slopes of the Lyall Bay side of the hill. But here tlie scrub was more broken, and the gruss lighter, and the outbreak was quickly beaten out. The firemen did not waste time attempting to put out the fire, but contented themselves with limiting its spread and keeping it away from the houses. It was at this juncture that, the wind change'll to the south. The fire at the northern end of the area had burnt down. Along the southern side, where it burnt slowly against the wind, it was easily held in check. However, the flames marched rapidly down toward the Eventide Home, the only building situated in the block in which the fire was burning. City Obscured. Meantime, a great pall of yellowbrown .smoke, sweet-scented of gorse, trailed over Wellington. Through it the sun set red and sullen, and over streets and gardens of the southern suburbs it east an unnatural gloom. Considerable alarm was felt by the women of the Salvation Army Home, as the smoke came rolling over the brow of tlie hill ami the crackle of the flames could be heard approaching. Inmates and their attendants stood in a huddle outside the building, looking apprehensively up the hill at the flying sparks, and watching the firemen laying out hoses and coupling up the lire plug connexions. The three engines were concentrated in the neighbourhood of the home. Firemeu of the Constable Street and Miramar brigades fought the blaze from about five o’clock till after midnight. For some hours they were kept busy holding it back with hoses from tlie Eventide Home, but. at midnight were reported to have the situation well under control. The matron and her staff did their utmost to calm the somewhat flustered and excited score of old folk, lu this they were hampered by the cries and movements of the crowds and the. clamour of the many small boys, which might have created the impression that the situation was graver than was the case. Spectacular Blaze. The blaze at this time presented a magnificent spectacle. In the last light of day, the leaping flames and dark-smoke-cloud seemed to cover an enormous area of hillside, ridges and gullies. Along the hillcrest tlie lire extended for fully a mile, and one of tlie fire-fighters estimated the circumference of the burning area as at least five or six miles.

Against the bright Hames could be seen, small and jet-black, the active figures of men beating with sacks and branches. As night fell the effect became even more notable, with the ruddy reflection of the flames on smoke-cloud and sky, and for contrast the deep blue background of Cook Strait, with a few coasters passing through it.

About nine o’clock the Hames reached the vicinity of the home at the top of Mersey Street. Here a considerable crowd of motorists, small boys, local residents and curious sightseers had gathered. The firemen brought their hoses into play, and soon had the lire under control at the northern side of the home. However, as occasional gusts drove it through the dry scrub and grass, from time to time it flared up fiercely and was able to gain a few yards. Hoses were brought into action at about half-past nine. How fierce and persistent was the blaze is shown by the fact that It was not till midnight that: the lire was dying down, and the danger in this quarter definitely dispelled. In many parts of the big area, however, the fire still smouldered, and from time to time blazed up anew as the wind fanned it. This was stated to be by no means the first time fires had occurred in this block of land, which is very heavily grown with gorse and at this time of year is tinder-dry. Annually one or two outbreaks occur there, but never before one as formidable as this. The Eventide Home, too. has had previous scares of the same sort. It was fortunate yesterday that the wind shifted to the south, as this brought the lire down less directly on the home than if the northerly had held and had blown the tire straight down rhe hill.

Several properlies were stated to tie involved in the fire, but last night it could not be ascertained who were the owners or precisely what wtis the extent of the lire. So far from causing damage to the properties, of course, it will have done good in clearing the land of gorse.