GRASS AND GORSE AFIRE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 260, 24 January 1928, Page 9

GRASS AND GORSE AFIRE

OUTBREAKS IN SUBURBSBRIGADES KEPT BUSY The Onehunga Fire Brigade made a good save at 11.30 this morning by promptly extinguishing a grass fire on a vacant section between two houses in Arthur Street West, Onehunga. On the brigade’s arrival the blazing grass had approached to within three f€iet of one of the houses, but the only damage done was the partial destruction of an old shed. FIREMEN’S HARD FIGHT For over four hours yesterday afternoon, a fire raged fiercely on a 30-acre section overgrown by gorse and scrub at the Edendale terminus. After v hard struggle the Mount Albert fire brigade was able to extinguish the outbreak. At one stage the flames were close to houses on Hazelmere and Haverstock Roads. Ten acres of grass was burned when a fire broke out in Rockfield Road, One Tree Hill, yesterday afternoon. The flames spread quickly through the long dry grass and threatened a joinery factory and a number of houses. For two hours the One Tree Hill brigade fought the flames before they were under control. About 700 ft of hose was run out and the flamees attacked from several places at once.' There 4yas a good water pressure. A hedge on the property of Mr. Marshall Lang, at Astley Avenue, New Lynn, caught on fire yesterday afternoon. Fanned by a strong breeze, the flames threatened the house. They were soon checked, little damage being done. A call to a gorse fire in Tennyson Avenue, Takapuna, was received at 12.30 this afternoon by the Takapuna brigade. The blaze was suppressed before any damage was done. The Mount Eden brigade received a call to a gorse fire near Peary Road at 12.15 this afternoon. No damage was done. FIERCE BLAZE FLAMES NEAR SETTLEMENT (From Our Oxen Correspondent) WAIMAUKU, To-day. A fierce fire broke out near Kaukapakapa on Sunday morning, and yesterday it was moving over the hills toward Waimauku. It has destroy-ed some hundreds of acres of green scrub and bush, and is rapidly approaching the settlement in Waikoukou Valley. Efforts have been made to check the flames by burning breaks, but they have not been very successful, and yesterday evening the fire had reached a point within two miles of the settlement. Another fire broke out yesterday afternoon at the southern end of the

vall.ey on the property of Messrs. Brockliss and Leslie. After destroying about 80 acres of pasture, it was checked at a narow strip of swamp and beaten out. ONEHUNGA ESCAPE PREMISES THREATENED The premises of Lichenstein and Co., fellmongers, Alfred Street, Onehunga, were again threatened by fire shortly before 1 p.m. this afternoon. The outbreak was a repetition of what took place on December 23. The company’s buildings were surrounded by several acres of tall fescue, which caught alight. The grass fire was burning fiercely when the Onehunga brigade arrived. After a strenuous fight the flames were subdued, however, and the buildings saved.