FIRE PREVENTION IN TAUPO AREA

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5279, 16 December 1946, Page 5

FIRE PREVENTION IN TAUPO AREA

STATE FIRE SERVICE | SCHEME SUBMITTED TO I TOWN BOARD ' Taupo will have the assistanee I of the State Forest Serviee | should any serious fire qecur this f summer, and the Town Boarcl 1 w'll meet on„ Wiednesday to dis- | cu is a proposition placed before .] it by Mr. Girling-Butcher, Chief' j Inspectpr of Fire- Services. . ; ' ? It is proposed to place an officer , at Taupo under the State Fire Ser- ^ vice as ranger to control all flres uttt- > side the Taupo area, the, Taupo Fire : Bi!gade to have complete control .. of any flres within- the towh afeai Should a large fire take' place vut- ■ side Taupo, all the equipment in Taupo will he requisitiohed hy ' ihe Forest Serviee and should any fire of serious proportions take: .place "|ii Taupo, the Forest Serviee will cbhie to the help of residents. The department has siiggested keeping one engine, in addition to the. op.e already stationed at * Taupo, td* gether with a water tender with a capacity of 800 gallohs of water; which, with the two engines,' would give a full supply in any emergeney* of 1600 gallons. • It is understood these engines Will be manned by members of the. Taupo brigade pn a volun'tary Ibasis ekeepfc for outside flres, and - as eadh engine would carry five men, a complete Taupo brigade would entail " a minimum of 12 men. These will be oifering. ' ■ • The State Forest Serviee will contribute two-thirds of the cost, the remaining one-third to he found *by small companies and local bodies. .> In Taupo the full contribution for fiie-fighting purposes will be £100, of which, one-third, of £33, will he immediately reqfuired for the edmmon po61 for flres outside the Taupo area and a further £50 for maintenance of equipment and general expenses within the town area. ' ... Young Forest 'Near Tau|io Will Regenerate ^ The disastrous fire whieh swept the Wairakei and Putaruru districts in Fehmary last, and destroyed a large pqrtion of the Tahora Kuri- bloek-.of young trees, Would not curtail the cxpansion programme of New Zealand -Forest Products Ltd., said the chairman, Mr. D. Henry, at the. anni al meeting of the company at Penrose. To a very eonsiderable extent the forests had been already resown and would regenerate themselveS. Considerable expenses were. incurred in suibduing the fire and protecting the company's main forest areas, said Mr. Henry, and praetically the whole of the company's field operations were at a standstill for -several weeks. This caused complete interraptiOn of the 'supply of logs to the msulatihg hoard mill, the timber imill and the case-mill. ' . Tribute was paid to the company'sworkers who, in the face of graVe' danger, battled oh, day and night; -tothe point of physical exhaustion- in some cases. Not only were the for-' ests at stake, but the whole countryside was ablaze, and houses, farhis, villageS and towhs were directly menaced, as well as buman lives. • Since the fire the Clcompany had been active in impfessirig on the Government ■' and others interested - fhe need for taking measures to • giye proteetion against sueh disasters in Ihe national interest, and an organl- 1 sation with ample powers had now been set up in the Taupo distri.ct to watch the position closely this summer. In addition, the Government had promised to bring down fire control legislation within a few ftlonths, which would give greater proteetion to all forests in NeW Zealand,