FIRE AT BURWOOD IS ALMOST OUT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19272, 8 January 1931, Page 6

FIRE AT BURWOOD IS ALMOST OUT.

FAST-GROWING LUPINS NULLIFY PRECAUTIONS. After raging for two days, during-which time several cottages were threatened and the baches at North Beach were in danger, the fire which started near the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Bottle Lake is practically out. A visit to the area this morning revealed a blackened waste some two and a half miles long and over a quarter of a mile wide. The fire had reached nearly to the sea in the neighbourhood of the Waimairi Surf Club pavilion, but now all that remains of it are a few smouldering tree trunks and isolated patches of lupin. The change from a dry nor’-west to a sou’-wester had had a beneficial effect.

At one stage yesterday the fire burned up with renewed vigour and four small houses at the end of Racecourse Road were in serious danger. But when the flames were practically on them the wind carried the blaze away to the north, where the country is not settled. Mr A. Florance, who has a coal and firewood business on Racecourse Road just opposite the spot where the flames were turned away, was apprehensive yesterday afternoon, and it was with relief that he saw the course of the fire take a different direction. Council’s Action Appreciated. The City Council’s action in sending men down to fight the flames when a telephone call was sent through was appreciated by .Mr Florance and his neighbours. Previously the council men had been watching the situation near Bottle Lake, where the council plantations are, but yesterday’s outbreak took the flames dangerously close to the seaward side of the plantations before they died down. Last evening the lire did not have much life, but hundreds of people visited the area to note the progress of the fire. They did not see much for their trouble, however. No Fire Regulations. The rapidity with which the scrub and lupins grow was declared by the Waimairi County Council clerk (Mr G. S. Cowper) to nullify the precautions taken by the County Council against the spread of fire. At present his council did not have any regulations dealing with the lighting of fires in the area under its control—the district where the fire swept through being in that area—but a by-law would be. framed and brought in at some time in the future. The only check just now on the lighting of fires was contained in the Police Offences Act, such as lighting a fire to the public danger Reads Overgrown. A resident, on Racecourse Road referred to the growth of'lupin arid scrub at the side of the road. In some places the road was very narrow and was walled in by bushes of growth some feet high. He suggested that the County Council might lock after this matter more' thoroughly,, perhaps employing men out of work by taking advantage of the Unemployment Board’s subsidy. When the suggestion was brought under Mr Cowper’s notice he pointed out that the onus was on property owners to keep the growth under con trol. Some hundreds of notices were served on property owners each month, and if these were not complied with men were sent along to cut the growth back, the work being charged up against the property owners.

Unsettled Country. One trouble was that the growth flourished so well, even though it was cut fairly frequently, and another was that large areas of unsettled country had been owned by one man and then split into separate allotments and sold. Owners of such property were not very concerned about carrying out their obligations on desolate country and the roads suffered. During the progress of the fire on Tuesday it was noticed that the flames were practically unchecked over some of the roads. Mr Florance stated that some years ago the Christchurch City Council suggested that fires should not be lit in a certain area near their plantation but the idea was never properly carried out. There was also the danger through picnickers lighting small fires in the scrub and then leaving them. It was theoretically advisable that owners should keep a clear patch of ground round their properties, said Mr Florance, but in many cases the small man could not afford to do so, and the help of the county council would be welcome. The big areas of land were a serious danger, and the obligation should be on the owners to see that some sort of a break was made round them to prevent flames advancing unchecked. New Brighton Fires. The fire did not reach any land under the jurisdiction of the New Brighton Borough Council, said the town clerk (Mr C. T. Middleton), but if it had the roads in the borough were well clear of growth, particular attention being taken to see that such was the case. All fires in the borough were supposed to be started only after Q. permit had been obtained from the town clerk’s office, and generally the by-law was observed, added Mr Middleton. All burning off and clearing work was thus under supervision. Dealing with the recent scrub fires in the borough which have caused some alarm, Mr Middleton stated that there was no question but that they were wilfully set going, in most cases by children. They did not start through carelessness on the part of property owners, but spread through the wind fanning to a blaze the remains of fires started by children.