Fire Brings Boulders Down In Manawata Gorge

Chronicle (Levin), 2 April 1948, Page 4

Fire Brings Boulders Down In Manawata Gorge

Bince IHonday morning men of the State Forest Service and Public AVorks Department, assisted by niembers of tlxe Palmerston North Fire Brigade, have been fxghtirig a fxre which bfoke oxxt in tlxe'bush at' the Ashhurst end of the Manawatu Gorge: As a fesult of th6' high eastei'Iy wind and precipitous hatixre of the country they have had an arduous task and 6while they have met with some success at the* actual mouth of the ' gorge where the ■ bush xrieets eleared hillside^ they have not been so successfiil in the denser portioix of the bxxsh and it waxxts only a change of wxxxd io the west for the fire to get completely out oi hand. As it is some .150 aeres which ineluded some fme specimerxs of rata, rimtx and nther native trees haVe been lost.

The fxre is said to have spread from: hill country adjacent the bush where blackberry'w^s being burnt olf. When ILr.st reports were reeeivfed on ildnday from the Ashhurst police stating that tlxe bush was endangered men from the P.W.D. were hastily put to work on cleaiing breaks to prevettt.its spreading and at fxrst they met with ,some success. Later, however, the situation deteriorated qud State Forest pumps were despatched from Wellington while the. Palmerston North Fire Brigade was also asked "for assistance. A trailer- pump and tlxree men were despatched from Palmerston North at 3 p.m. yesterday. In an attenxpt to reach the flames on the cliff face some 200 feet- -of hose was lost. The men from Palmerston North set off up th rough a creek bed to reach the scene of the fxre carrying. a lead and 200 feet of spare hose. ' When they reached the top of the hill they. had to be lowered over the vlxff face*ta reach the flames with. the lead but there Was a hiteh in tlxe water supply. The flames reaeht'd alarming .•'proportxon's aud the position •had to be abandoned. tb.ut ••by.- -the time was nYtinie to save the spare*. M ^ Boulders loosened from tlxe cliff faee bv the destruction of the holding scrub cxashed down on the xoadway and lxave made xt necessary for the Gorge Road to be closed to all traflic. When tlxe Palmerston Nox'th detaclxment- arrived back at 6 o'clock last night it had been deflnitely aseertained that the cliff face had been saved but the flames still were raging in the hills behind the gorge. As it is impossible for machines to reach the scene men equipped with liaversaek punxps will tackle the flx'e todav. Working in relavs, two lorries, one equipped xvith two 500-gallon tanks and the'other with two of 400-gallon capacity, supplied the machines with watei by earting it from a small creek nearby. When anotlier pump arriyed from Wellington later it was stationed oi Ihe riverside.