Fire-Fighters Stand By In Forests

Northern Advocate, 6 January 1948, Page 8

Fire-Fighters Stand By In Forests

WELLINGTON, Tue. (P.A.) Firefighting teams had been standing by throughout the holidays and many small fires had beetT reported from all parts of the country, said an officer of the State Forest Service yesterday.

Only constant vigilance and the cooperation of the public had prevented a serious outbreak during the present hot weather, he said.

The position was still very serious, although cloudy weather had brought some relief to parts of the North Island yesterday. Factors taken into account in assessing fire danger were humidity, moisture content of wood, temperature, wind velocity and direction, and the number of days since rain had last fallen. CHAIN OF RADIO POSTS These details were sent to headquarters of the service in Wellington each day by radio from 10 stations in the Rotorua-Bay of Plenty area and three in the Auckland district. This chain of radio posts would ultimately be extended throughout the country. In the meantime, other stations telegraphed these details if humidity fell below 45 .per cent. When, as in the National Park area on Saturday, humidity dropped as low as 20 per cent and stayed at a low level the fire danger was very great. No telegraphed reports had been received yesterday and the usual radio messages indicated a slight easing of the position. There had been fewer examples of carlessness this summer and the public appeared to be more “fire conscious" than in the past. PORTABLE EQUIPMENT New portable equipment which has arrived in New Zealand for use by the State Forest Service in fighting forest fires was described by the officer. The main unit is a pump, powered by a two-stroke engine which is carried knapsack fashion on a man’s back. This pump can be used in any stream, pond or tank, and as it is of a centrifugal type it will pump dirty water. With the pump usually go two 400 ft lengths of hose, which can be fed out from the knapsack as fast as a man can run. A packload of accessories completes the unit. “Four men carrying this gear make up a complete fire-fighting unit,” the officer said. "They can operate in rough country where a wheeled vehicle would be useless. SIX PUMPS DISTRIBUTED “The pump will develop a pressure of 2001 b, though normally it uses 1001 b to 1501 b, and will pump 50 gallons a minute. “It can be used to pump water through a mile of hose and up a 300 ft hill and give a usable jet of water at the end.”

Six of these pumps have been dis tributed in the last two weeks.

“More are on order and are expected in about two months.