SHEEP SAVED FROM FIRE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 38, 13 January 1944, Page 2

SHEEP SAVED FROM FIRE

RAKAIA ISLAND SWEPT. CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 12. Prompt action in removing 1500 sheep from an area swept by the flames a few minutes later, probably saved many of the animals from destruction when a grass lire broke out recently on the Rakaia Island, South Canterbury. Starting near the eastern side of the island and fanned by a south-easterly wind, which later veered to the north and then to the north-east, the- flames soon spread to a width of about a mile and swept a belt reaching to the western side of the island, destroying a large area of grazing and a considerable length of post and wire fencing. The fire also travelled through a pine plantation. Men from the island and from farms acros-, the Rakaia River hastened *) the locality and worked hard on either flank, using back-firing and other methods to confine the flames to as narrow a strip as possible, the heat, smoke, and rapid rate at which tho flames travelled making a frontal attack impossible. Large area* of the Rakaia and Feredav's Islands, the riverbed and plains, are at present in a parched condition.