BUSH FIRES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 903, 24 February 1908, Page 5

BUSH FIRES.

A RACE FOR LIFE

REFUGEES'IN A CULVERT,

• BY TKWGMPn PRESS ASSOCIATION. AUCKLAND February 22. A "Star" reporter, writing from Taumarunui; says:"At the end of the Pipipi road is Mr Davis' place. He and his daughter had a terrible time. They were sitting down to dinner when a warning came. They hardly had time to get out of the'house before the standing bush, a few chains from the house, was a wall of flame. They and a neighbour.-Mrs Coutts, who was burned right Out, just managed vo race along the road about a ..uarter of a mile, and find refuge in a big culvert, when the flames followed them, and literally enveloped the whole neighbourhood. "Smoke eame'through the culvert, which was big enough for a man to walk in, as through a chimney. It was by bathing their faces continu- ' allv in the \vater running under their fee"t that they were able to' bear the awful pain. l ' "They we're in this terrible plight for nearly e?£ht hours, and ; were only rescued after dark. ■ Oddly enough Mr Davis' house was not burned, although the adjacent woolshed, haystack, fencing and' other buildings were reduced to ashes. "A few hundred yards past the junction on' the Ohura road lives Mr Connolly, whose woolshed was burned and who lost considerable stock. He and his household took refuge in a good sized stream, with high banks, which runs through the section. Even here they were not safe. Frequently their clothing caught fire from sparks. P; was only by dashing water on one another that they escaped with their lives. Their little girl Cora, about seven or eight years. >i suffered frightfully. They were in the ■■'+' creek for about six hours, till the fire abated somewhat after dark. It is no wonder that the mother and child were smoke-blind and quite helples3 for a couple of days after.

WHOLE DISTRICT SWEPT BY FIRE.

A TOWNSHIP IN DANGER

FEILDING, February 22

The whole district between Rangiwahia and Kawhatau is being swept by fires. ■■,, ~'..,. . . The Rangiwahia township is in danger, and there is a serious shortage of water everywhere. Fences have been destroyed in all directions, and stock is wandering at large. Most valuable scenery has been destroyed. • ' ' ■'■ Strenuous efforts of settlers and their neighbours have saved homesteads so far in most cases, but the end is not yet.