CARE WITH FIRE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 10 January 1944, Page 4

CARE WITH FIRE

WITH the countryside dry as tinder, and winds varying temperamentally, the greatest care needs to be exercised just now about lighting fires, both in town and country. Already in several areas of the North Island and at Westhaven considerable damage has been done to plantations and native bush by fires which have got out of hand. This causes the country avoidable loss and, in the case of native bush, destroys an asset which is irreplaceable in our time. Among timber trees a fire in a few hours can undo the work of generations and even centuries. The season for burning-off has arrived prematurely this year. Where this is still regarded as good practice by farmers on gorse, fern and scrub country they will do well to consider what else is in the neighbourhood before they light the match. So often, too, a destructive fire can come from a live cigarette butt tossed away carelessly, or from a picnic or camp fire. No damage has arisen in Nelson this season from these causes, as far as is known, and it would be well to preserve the record. In some areas of the city and Tahunanui there is certainly a good crop of gorse which needs keeping down. Burning may be the easiest and most economical method of doing so only if it is controlled burning. When the fire leaves the rubbish-covered section for next door, where there may be ornamental trees or a house, then it has a fair chance of becoming an expensive method, even if the worst is forestalled by the early arrival of the fire brigade. It costs the brigade and therefore the city extra money every time an engine leaves the station. In all the circumstances it might be prudent, wherever there is a doubt about adequate supervision, to leave burningoff until it can be kept under stricter control.