SERIOUS FIRES ON EAST COAST

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 130, 1 March 1928, Page 3

SERIOUS FIRES ON EAST COAST

MANY PROPERTIES LAID WASTE PANIC-STRICKEN SETTLERS FLEE TO SAFETY BY TE&EGBAPff.—FbESS ASSOCIATION. Gisborne, February 29. The whole of the vegetation in the valleys from Hicks Bay to Cape Runaway tias been completely destroyed by fires which got u"ut of control during the week-end. One homestead has been burned out. and it is estimated that fully a tho usand sheep have been lost in the flames, besides a few head of cattle. Panic-stricken settlers were compelled to flee from their homes to seek refuge. Further north a fire started three miles from Hicks Bay which burned through Messrs. McGuire’s and Irafford’s properties and continued up the Oweka Valiev to Messrs, Maddox, son’s, and Neale's properties, leaving only a blackened waste. Settlers are powerless to check flic flames. At 1 a.m. Mr. and Mrs- Downey, with two babies, had to evacuate their home, being hunted from place to place by ths flames, but finally finding refuge in a Maori meeting house at Potaka. Mr. Downey lost everything, the whole of his homestead, property, and stock being destroyed. YVaitangihia station homesteads were endangered and settlers, Messrs. Thomas and "Cranswick, had to. leave their homes after burving their valuables.They lost some 300 sheep. A -workman named Calnan on tins station, and his wife, had to make a hurried exit from their camp and lost everything they possessed. Mr. A. C. Wood’s station bouse at Lottin Point had a narrow escape, hoses being placed on the building throughout the night, every available man assisting. Mr. Mac Niven’s home at Omareporoa was similarly saved. The fires were still raging last night in the Oweka Valley, where Messrs. Neal’s and Wilson’s houses are endangered by the flames, which were at one time dangerously near. The Hicks Bay township's report that the Kobu station woolshed had been destroyed is now proved to be unfounded.