MANY HILLSIDE FIRES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 93, 14 January 1935, Page 10

MANY HILLSIDE FIRES

Brigade Has Hard Week-end NO DAMAGE TO PROPERTY Continued dry weather has made grass fires around Wellington more numerous than usual, even for this season. During tlie week-end there were many outbreaks, 16 of them being sufficiently large to engage the brigade’s attention. No damage was done to property in any instance. Saturday’s tally of gorse, grass and shrul> fire calls at the fire station totalled 12, and there were four further outbreaks yesterday. These meant hard work for the brigadesmen and also made a heavy call upon the brigade's resources in fire-fighting appliances. Heavy pillars of smoke could be seen rising from some part of the suburbs at almost any time of the day during the week-end, and the fire brigade's calls on Saturday were to Karori (4), Oriental Bay. Khandallah (3), Melrose. Kilbirnie and Ngaio, and yesterday Brooklyn. Karori, Balena Bay and Wadestown had to be attended to. The heavy volumes of smoke from one of tlie Karori outbreaks caused some alarm to residents of Croydon and Duthie Streets, whose houses were in the direct line of the fire, but the intervening territory was well covered by tlie brigade’s hoses and the fire was not allowed near enough to become of any danger. ’ 1 The fire near Onslow Road, Khandallah, on Saturday swept over a great part of the hillside below the substation. The Hutt Valley suffered just as badly, the largest outbreak being on the hills near Gracefield Road yesterday morning. This swept right up to the Wainui-o-mata Road and caused some alarm to residents of the locality. The other outbreaks a few hundred yards away from each other occurred in the vicinity of Koro Koro, but the most spectacular fire in the valley was at the back of the Wellington Woollen Mills near the Petone level crossing.