Bush Fire In Kokiri Area: Danger To Lines

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 September 1949, Page 4

Bush Fire In Kokiri Area: Danger To Lines

A spectacular fire in dry bush and scrub threatened to destroy phone lines and the railway signalling system at a point between Kokiri and Newman’s Siding, east -of Stillwater, early last evening.; Flames raced through the tinder-dry undergrowth until a large area was burning fiercely. The sky overhead reflected a glow that was visible in Greymouth about 15 miles away. The fire the cause of which is not known,’ was first reported about 6.20 last evening by the driver of the Greymouth-Christchurch railcar. It was then burning strongly alongside the Midland railway , line, between Newman’s Siding • and the Kokiri road crossing, and, according to the driver, was threatening serious danger. Some poles had been burned through, leaving the wires suspended. Unless the fire . was xtihguished. quickly it would have serious results, the driver reported. A railway emergency gang was mobilised immediately and dispatched from Stillwater to combat the fire, while a Post and Telegraph Department crew was sent from. Greymouth. . By 7.15 their combined efforts nad brought the blaze under control, confining it to the burning area and by 10 o’clock, it had been almost completely extinguished. After fine weather for more than a month, the light bush in the Kokiri area burned rapidly, fanned by a strong easterly wind. Yesterday was the hottest day experienced in the district since last Summer.