KAIKOURA BUSH FIRE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 192, 14 August 1931, Page 7

KAIKOURA BUSH FIRE.

Houses Endangered and School Evacuated. BIG AREA BURNED OFF. (Special to th? “Star.”) KAIKOURA August 14. Several homes in the Kaikoura district were endangered when fire swept for three miles down Blue Duck Valley, in the Seaward Ranges, on Wednesday night and during yesterday morning. As heavy bush surrounded the Puhi Puhi School, it was thought advisable to remove the children, as the fire was burning on a nearby property. There is no danger now, though the country is still smouldering. A fire had been smouldering on farm land at the head of the valley for about a fortnight, and it is stated that it was fanned into a blaze by the violent nor’wester that blew on Wednesday morning. Dry undergrowth ignited and the fire spread through the tree tops to menace neighbouring farm-houses. The blaze rushed through heavy bush on the property of Mr’F. Gibson, who had his hands full to save his house. The residence of Mr F. Smith catfght alight, but with the aid of hoses the outbreak was kept down and little damage was done. Whare Destroyed. The homes of Messrs E. Gibson and E. Wallace were also endangered, and Mr Ralph Parsons’s property suffered severely. Many sheep were scorched, and Mr Parsons had a fine accommodation whare destroyed. The fire eventually burned down to small proportions on the clearer land past Mr Parsons’s holding. Luckily for the settlers mustering operations had been carried out over the burning area, otherwise the loss of sheep would have been severe. The fire, burning over a front of half a mile, was retarded by the green trees and undergrowth, enabling what stock there was in its path to be got clear. The main loss is the many hundred acres of cleared grassland which were burned off.