BUSH FIRES NEAR PETONE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2740, 7 April 1916, Page 6

BUSH FIRES NEAR PETONE

ANXIOUS TIME FOR SETTLERS.

For some days bush fires have been raging on the hills.in the vicinity of Koro Koro and Maungaraki, and several residents have had many an anxious moment in their endeavours to save their houses. On Tuesday evening a fire broke out in the scrub on tho Horokiwi Hills, and speedily spread to the Woollen Mill Gully. 'Tho l'etone Fire Brigade did good work on this occasion by beating out the flames and' preventing the fire from doing any damago. "With the.recent winds, however, the fire revived, and soon turned the Woollen Mill Gully,' which was a mass of gorse and bracken, into bare banks. Travelling towards the Koro Koro Road and destroying all the grass in its path the fire received another set-back at the residence of Mr. Craig. This homestead has a small bush gully adjacent, and as there is a cluster of houses in close proximity, it was feared that if .the gully fired, all the houses would be destroyed. However, a willing band of workers, consisting of Messrs. Jacobsen, Scroggs, Snodgrass, Laurence, Higgins, Pomfrey and A. Jones, after about six hours' strenuous work in rolling giant' logs down the hills and using beaters, and being reinforced by the children attending the local school, managed to prevent the flames from entering tho smaller gully. Lower down the road, Mr. _J. H. ■ Jackson's plantation adjoining his house had a close call. A giant rimu log, dry as tinder, and loaded with resin, took fire on Mr. Millward's property, but the direction of tho wind carried the great sparks towards Mr. Jackson's plantation, which contains some 10,000 trees of various kinds. As Mr. Snodgrass's house was literally "in the line of firo," both settlers attacked the log, assisted by Mr. Millward. But, owii]g to the fact that water had to be carried about 50 yards, it was no easy matter to check the flames, which, by then, had obtained a strong hold. Mr. Jackson tried to ongage men to watch through tho night, offering £1 and refreshments, and* Is. Gd. per hour through the day, but was unsuccessful. The fire brigade were approached, and the Potone Council staff, without results, until Wednesday evening, when two of the council's employees watched through the night. Throughout yesterday the work was carried on, in some instances women assisting, and in the case of the troublesome log on Mr. Millward's property, the fire was successfully put out. At a late hour last evening thero were signs of approaching rain. Meanwhile the fire is spreading towards the Normandale Settlement, and it is thought probable that tho bush at the Koro Koro reservoir may bo stripped, in tho event of there being no ram. Messrs. Taylor and Flux state that they have lost several cords of firewood, and Mr. M'Millan is reported to have lost 300 totara posts, valued at nearly £30. ' Many of the properties will require to be /csown with grassseed, as a result of the (outbreak. Tho Potone Council has recently been endeavouring to relieve the shortage of water in the district by sending_ b. water cart there daily, and supplying tho muoh-nced"d commodity freo to residontg, '