GRASS FIRES

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 January 1926, Page 5

GRASS FIRES

ASHBURTON COUNTY DAMAGE. 7 - . - .i%>. . ' :*•; '' • boxing referee; Killer ' • . . . C / 4' ■' ' • I - — (Per Presa Association.) * . ■■ f •’ ■., y ' . ASHBURTON, January .29. For the , last ! ' Ashburton County has had of a series of grass fires, attributed to sparks from railway engines. Until to-day the damage was confined to . plantations and hedges alongside' the -lines, principally the main line. • To-day, however, a fire in the Chertsey district assumed serious proportions, causing' damage 1 to pastures, crops and buildings estimated at several thousands. The most serious losers wete. Mr. C. Flynn (a stable and tWQ paddocks of oats), Mr. J. Cameron’s (stables, and outbuildings), arid Mr. L- Hanrahan (three large stacks*of oats). % Mr. William Page (well known in boxing circles) motor . garage proprietor, of Ashburton, W£s “’s'eyere'ly burned in endeavouring to remove his motor car, which caught fire'arid was. destroyed while.he, was assisting to remove furniture from Mr. Hanrahan’s house, when,threatened by the fire. He was burned, about* the back of the head, shoulders, and hips.- In an . effort to save himself he rolled into an adjacent water, race. He is now in hospitfi.l in. a' most serious condition. ; •

This afternoon thefire was blazing on a front of four miles, arid was travelling at the! rate: of four or five miles an hour. Hundreds 'pf men battled for hours against tij.e! flames, and worked desperately, in the removal of furniture, stocky and- other goods to places of safety. Fortunately, no homesteads , wpre burned, though several were threatened, .some of them when cvbirien and children were / inside with : no/' means of rescuers’ access, and . then, providentially, the wind was playing with the flames, and by a freak , of' chance twisted the fire away wflen .all, hope deemed ove.p. In Cameron’s case the verandah was burned, but it was prilled away by, the fire-fighters and the flames left the. building itself unAmong the many assisting in the work were numbers of- women and girls who drove off the stock and removed furniture .outsidej of the line of fire’. ... ; ' h-v. The fire,extended for a distance of ten miles from Chertsey when it was subdued. Much of the credit of this is due to Mr. Alan Watson who drove a tractor dragging a four-furrow plough over a line of about seven miles long .'through flames and. over water races thus forming an effective help against which the fire died down.

Yesterday mosl fires prior, to that at Chertsey occurred in the Westerfield district where 126 acres of plantation was destroyed despite the efforts of a large number of residents, who in common with other locajities, i'have been organised by the County Council. Damage eatimated at a thousand pounds was caused. .

ANOTHER HOSPITAL CASE, , -ASHBURTON, January.3o. Page succumbed to his . injuries early.,ibis morning. He was aged 40, married, \yith four children,' aged from 8 to 14 years. , He was prominently associated With sports, especially football and .boxing. - , In the former he represented the County, and, in the latter was once middle weight chain-’ pion of Canterbury. P. T. Hanrahan, son of L. Hanrahan, was also severely burned in-the salvage work on the farm owned by his. father?,” He'was admitted to the hospital. * ’, > . "' .Following a change of wind, steady rain last night removed all danger, of further glass fires. ,

Mr. Page was well-kwnown in Greymouth. He was .referee for. the match . between 'Tommy Fairhall and Eugene Volaire, fifteen jjionths ago.-: He referied for the N.Z./Championship Boxing meeting in Christchu'reh . last August, which was his . lOOtli tournament. He was' recognised as one of the soundest referees in New Zealand.

AUSTRALIAN BUSH FIRES.

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.)

SYDNEY, January' 29. The bush fire menacing Canberra capital has again broken out, and now has a twenty-miles front. The Federal territory is covered with a thick pall of smoke, and the fighters are. lying exhausted on the roadside, after an allnight fight. So far their efforts have prevented the flames from approaching the, pine plantations, as the wind is against the advance of the fire. Bush fires are still raging in the Bathurst district, after two, days, and have devastated a great area. LATER.

The bush fire in the Cotter. River district was the worst for 20 years. Fears were entertained for the safety of the Observatory arid pine"plantations. at Mount Strombo. in the Jingellic district, near Albury. Fire is raging fiercely along ,a ,15-mile . fi'oiit in the Bathdrst district, sixty* square miles of grass and fencing being destroyed. ’ Several buildings and homesteads had a close call. /Th/e fire is now practically under control.- Little loss in stock is so far reported.