FIERCE BLAZE

Evening Star, Issue 24293, 7 September 1942, Page 2

FIERCE BLAZE

WORKERS SAVE BUSH It took 10 men under the direction of Mr M. R. Skipworth, superintendent of reserves, to extinguish a fierce blaze on the slopes of Flagstaff last night. The fire lasted for many hours throughout the day. Fortunately, as a result of the good work of the fire-lighters, no damage was done to the City Council’s plantations in the vicinity. Another lire, this time at the rear of the Chingford reserve, lost for the city about an acre of bush. The thoughtless action of three boys on Saturday afternoon was responsible for the outbreak, and, had it not been for the prompt action of the caretaker, Mr N. Cuthbertson, and a group of willing helpers, the whole of the beautiful native bush at the roar of the reserve would have been destroyed. The fire was started in a patch of long, dry grass in one of the City Council’s plantations. It spreak very rapidly, and in a short time the whole hillside above the reserve was ablaze, along with a few trees and fence-posts on the outskirts. But for the prompt action of Mr Cuthbertson and his assistants, who included amongst their number several members of the Women’s War Service Auxiliary Land Army, the loss, as indicated, would have been a very severe one