A CIOSE CALL.

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVI, Issue 33, 1 December 1937, Page 3

A CIOSE CALL.

FIRE THREATENS WAIHAKEI HOTEL. ROTORUA, Last night. A scrub fire which at one stage threatened to endanger large trees 'surrounding the Wairakei Hotel and settlement yesterday swept the greater part of Geyser Valley. At Wairakei the tire occasioned considerable anxiety, and only good work carried out by a hastily organised gang consisting of hotel employees, Public Works Department men and forestry workers avoided what might have been a very serious situation. The fire fighters, working under most trying conditions in extreme heat, cleared a fire break, which successfully diverted the path of the flames. In this they were assisted by a change in the wind during the afternoon, which transferred the course of the (lames up Waiora Valley and toward Pntaruru road. Late last evening- the tire was still burning, but it appeared to he under control. The fire destroyed a large number of self-sown pine trees and a considerable area of undergrowth and scrub in the valley, hut fortunately did not

reach any buildings of the forestry plantation. Had it not been checked, however, there was considerable danger of its gaining a hold in the plantations surrounding the hotel, which would have constituted a threat to the safety of the building itself. The fire traversed a course of approximately two miles, leaving a considerable area of blackened and burned scrub behind it.

Why run the risk? Insure with the Norwich Union Fire Office. All classes of risks covered. —Fellow and Pellow, 4gents, Waipawa.*