FOREST FIRES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 5, 7 January 1944, Page 3

FOREST FIRES

CONCERN NEAR ROTORUA (P.A.) . Auckland, Jan. 6. Further concern was caused in the Rotorua district in an entirely new direction this morning when fire broke out in the country bordering Lake Tarawera, between the Green Lake and Mount Tarawera. The fire spread rapidly through the dry undergrowth and threatened the caretaker’s house at Lake Tarawera and the vicinity. At one stage at Lake Tarawera the caretaker’s residence and other hutments were completely encircled. Later the fires started to swing toward th-e tearooms at the buried village and the scrub country surrounding it. Continuation of the fire created serious menace to' the Governmentplanted forests edging the Blue and Green Lakes. A Forestry Fire Patrol sent an urgent call to the commander of Maori troops and a detachment was quickly s-ent to the scene, complete with steel helmets and fire-fighting equipment. The detachment pro-, ceeded to cut firebreaks and take other precautions, but toward evening the threat had abated.