FIRE DANGER IN FORESTS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1931, Page 16

FIRE DANGER IN FORESTS

PLANTATIONS MENACED FIGHTING EFFICIENCY. INCESSANT VIGILANCE. With the approach of summer and the dry weather, the fire-prevention organisation of the State Forest Service comes automatically into operation ail over New Zealand. Already there have been one or two relatively small outbreaks, but speed in checking the flames usually assures a minimum of damage to the plantations. Those who have never- witnessed a forest fire cannot appreciate its immensity, nor the impotence of man beside it'. Once the flames secure a firm hold, the most elaborate organisation and frequently the most strenuous efforts are needed to suppress it. The officers of the State Forest Service have learned this by long and in some instances costly experience, and the system of fireprevention and suppression that is now ready for operation has been brought to a particulalry high state of efficiency. “Every employee is a fire fighter,” declared an officer of the department, discussing the preparations made for the summer months in the plantations. “Our arch-enemy is fire, and the men are aware of this. When the ship is sinking it is a case of every man to the pumps. And so it is in the forestry plantations. 'When a fire breaks out it must be handled quickly. Every minute wasted reduces the.chances of checking the flames.” ETERNAL VIGILANCE. Seeing that there are more than 7,000,000 acres of land in New Zealand under the jurisdiction of the State Forest Service, the greater part of which is covered either by exotic or by indigenous trees, the problem of the forest fire is a substantial one when the Dominion experiences a dry spell. Some of the plantations of exotics are 40 miles across, and the total area covered is about 340,000 acres. One man usually has charge of the supervision of a plantation of this kind, and his vigilance in watching for outbreaks and his efficiency in handling them when they do occur must bo of an exceptionally high standard. Look-outs are situated at the highest point in many plantations, and men keep a constant watch from them. When a fire occurs anywhere within the area, a telephone system is immediately in operation, and the central ranger in charge is informed. From that one signal the whole organisation, carefully prepared and kept at efficiency point, begins immediately to operate. If the fire is a big one, all available hands are called up to fight the flames. If it is in an area served by a water-race, a river, or with a lake nearby, small high-powered fire pumps, each carrying 1500 feet of hose, are hooked on behind fast motor-trucks, and all speed is made through the large fire-breaks cut through the plantations to the seat of the outbreak. BEATING THE FLAMSS. In districts where no water is available a multiplicity of sheds are dotted about the plantations, about half a mile apart, each containing shovels, slashers, knapsack pumps filled with chemicals, and other instruments specially designed to deal promptly with forest flames. Every employee on the plantations becomes a patrol man in the dry weather. Incessant watchfulness is the guiding spirit of the forestry officers. Sparks from railways trains, fires left by campers, cigarettes dropped by trampers, a match thrown carelessly into dry bushes; all of these are causes of great conflagrations which sometimes take days to extinguish. When a railway line runs through a forestry plantation a man patrols incessantly on horseback or on foot along the whole route immediately following the passage of every train during the dry weather. Intensive campaigns are undertaken every year to educate the public to the necessity of looking after their own forestry plantations. Notices are posted every short distance along the fences skirting public highways warning people of the grave risk of fire. It is possibly on account of the highly efficient state of this fire-fighting system, and the rapidity with which it operates, that no very serious forest fires have been encountered in the past ten years. The largest area completely burnt in that time was 70 acres, which was ignited by flying material from a burning hotel during a howling gale very late one night. COSTLY FALSE ALARMS. So far this summer one or two outbreaks have been recorded. A settler's fire spread into 50 acres of small trees but rapid handling had it quickly under control. The cost of false alarms is heavy. Look-out men who see smoke in the vicinity of the plantation must report. The central ranger must then send apparatus, with men, to ensure there is no danger. .The work goes on all through the summer. Motorists on the main road who see clouds of dense white smoke rising from behind the distant hills infrequently realise that below that pall of smoke a battalion of men may be engaged fiercely fighting the flames with pump, slasher, and shovel in an effort to check the spread of a forest fire, which, in many cases becomes a real menace to farmers, their stock, and their homes and families.