PLAINS PEAT FIRES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5241, 20 February 1928, Page 2

PLAINS PEAT FIRES.

NOW BEYOND CONTROL; .

WHIRLWIND CARRIES SPARKS.

The fire in’t’ne peat country west of Ngatea got out of control at mid-day on Saturday, when a whirlwind which lasted about a quarter of an hour lifted .sparks a great distance in the air and deposited them about five chains south of the railway canaJ. The fire which was started could not be checked, and it is r.(ow spreading toward Torehape where there are 1000 acres of-millable flax. It is burning mossy peat? to a depth of two feet or more, and .very dense fern and scrub, but there was little wind on Saturday and Sunday, so the advance 'was slow. Should a strong wind spring up there is no knowing where the-fire will end, for there is little to st >p it before it reached the Kaihere aad to the south or the. Puhanga Canal farms, to the east.

The Lands Drainage Department has a big gang at work, and the Toreh' pe flaxmiller is employing’'all the men he can get to make a firebreak from the end of the Maukoro canal to the Torehape-Puhanga road. At present a clearing is being made, and if time and wind permits, burning back will be done. The chances °f effecting a save depend almost entirely on the w'nd,' for a gale would spread the fire many miles in an hour, and might carry sparks over very wide firebreaks. ‘ ?

On Friday last the Lands Drhinage Department had the. fire as much under control as was possible. In its track was the railway canal, 45ft wide, and the two new clay embankments each about 40ft wide. Yet the whirlwind carried sparks over this and about five chains beyond. The department to-day is making strenuous efforts to make art efficient break along the route of Pouarua Road. Thi.s is a long ,w.ay from the present seat of the fire, but it is the only place which offers a reasonable chance of making a break wide enough to stop wind-driven' flames. Mr G. Smerle’s flax plantations and mill are near Pouarua Road.

It seems rather strange that the Torehape flaxmiller with 1000 1 acres of mill able flax had. not taken precautions against the fire getting beyond the control of the department at the railway cut. The fire commenced a week ago, and the miller was fully alive to the danger, .’for he visited the work near' the canal, but not until the fire had got beyond this was any effort made to protect the flax. THE OTHER FIRES. The other fires on the Plains are now safe, and no great damage has been done with the exception of the destruction of. a 300-acre> block of flax on the right bank of the Piako River near the mouth of. the Waikaka canal. The origin of this fire is, a mystery, as the area round the flax was burned as late as October last, and there was no chance of timber smouldering since then without being noticed. *