FIRE PATROLS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 92, 24 October 1947, Page 8

FIRE PATROLS

SPECIAL AIRCRAFT vr* - - - - rWHAKATANE AREA INCLUDED The two Tiger Moths and a large? Fox Moth, which arrived at Rotorua last week, will be based there while carrying out fire watching patrols for the State Fire Service. The planes will be operated on this service until the' arrival, at an undetermined date, of Auster aircraft •which will be used regularly for this work. They will be piloted by members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, who will work in conjunction with the State Forest Service. The party includes fitters and wireless mechanics. Similar aircraft were used for fire patrols last year. The aircraft are specially fitted for their work, the main features being radio telephone contact with the ground. At Kaingaroa forest headquarters, there is a wireless communication service, with whom the. planes keep in contact for reporting fires, and receiving orders. In the area bordered by any declared district, no fire may be lighted without permit from the State Forest Service. This prohibition is imposed until April 15 in the interests of forest conservation. - • Early this /year the boundaries were altered in the Kaingaroa-Ro-torua and Whakarewarewa fire districts, and the Oraka Fire District, which will be administered by New Zealand Forest Products Ltd., in the Pinedale forests, was set up. Practically the whole of the Rotorua County and large portion of the Tauranga, Whakatane, Matamata and Taupo Counties now lie within fire districts. The boundary of the enclosed area follows, generally, the Tauranga-Rotorua Road from a point near Maketu to Lake Rotorua, thence to Ngongotaha, along the railway to Putaruru and the main road to Arapuni.