DESPERATE FIGHT

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 99, 21 April 1933, Page 2

DESPERATE FIGHT

FERE SWEEPS PLANTATION TRAIL OF DEVASTATION Hundreds of beaters were called out recently to fight a fire which eventually destroyed 250 acres of young pine trees and 200 acres of grazing land near Rolleston. Starting in Jones’s plantation, the fire advanced before the nor’west wind through the dry, sun-scorch-ed country, and the flames spread with rapidity and left a trail of devastation before they were finally conquered. No houses or crops were damaged, though several were seriously threatened. The country is so dry that had it not been for a fortunate change in the wind the fire might have got beyond control and destroyed much valuable property. As it was, tho fight Was a desperate one. The frontage of the flames at times extended for two and a half to three miles, and as fast us the fire was beaten back in one place it broke out in another. The outbreak was first noticed shortly after eleven o’clock, and it was not until after three o’clock that the fighters were able to rest. Smoking Out Babbit It is believed in the district that the fire began where some shooters were trying to smoke a rabbit from a burrow in the middle of the plantation. It had a strong hold among the young pines when the first beaters arrived on the scene, and with the wind coming in gusts from the nor’-west it moved steadily towards Rolleston. Soon an army of fighters from all over the district was concentrated at the scene, but still the fire advanced.

Half the plantation was swept by the blaze. Several grass roads gave no assistance as fire-breaks and the fire gained further impetus in the dry paddocks which lay before it. Several times it was held, but the wind would vary slightly and away the flames went in another direction. Two miles from where it started the fire crept within thirty yards of a house near Ward’s Track, but the energy of the fighters held it until another change in the wind carried it in another direction. Property Threatened Anxiety was lessened only for a moment, for now the fire threatened Mr Hamilton’s property. There was more strenuous work while the stock was removed to safety. Stacks of oats stood in the way of the flames, but a gallant defence kept them from damage until the course of the fire left them standing like oases in the desert of destruction. Miles of fencing was burnt out and still the flames moved on. Then, when further valuable property was threatened, the wind changed to the sou’-west and died down to a gentle breeze. The beaters redoubled their efforts and at 3.30 p.m. the fire had been subdued. The pall of smoke rising from the burning area seemed to act as a magnet to motorists, and in the early afternoon hundreds of cars lined the roads in the vicinity. Some of the motorists joined tho fighters, but a large number were content to sit and watch. It was a spectacular sight, but not nearly so spectacular a Bit would have been had

the wind sent the burst of flame in the direction of the long line of parked cars. The district has experienced grass fires several times in the recent hot months and farmers are arfxiously waiting for the rain, which will not only refresh the fields and provide winter feed for the stock, but also remove a great danger.