THE RAETIHI FIRE
MONDAY 18th AND TUESDAY 19th MARCH 1918The summer of 1917/1918 in the Waimarino (King Country, North Island) was said to have been the hottest summer in living memory. Water tanks were empty, streams had dried up and pastures were bare.
This area of New Zealand was (and still is) covered in very heavy bush. To enable farms to be established, the bush was cut and felled during the winter and then left to dry until the summer when it could be burnt off. The ash and debris then acted as a fertiliser for many years after.
Monday the 18th March, dawned as another hot dry day. During the day residents noticed smoke in the air but felt no cause for alarm. However during the early evening a roaring gale sprung up with winds of 125-140 kph.
The fires then raced out of control. The wind carried sparks and other burning debris for many miles. Houses and farm buildings were being destroyed, stock perished in their 1000s, and saw mills in the area became total wrecks. The fires headed towards the small town of Raetihi but many of the residents were able to escape to Ohakune by train. Other residents headed for the streams and culverts in the town and took shelter under bridges and in drains.
Settlers on outlying farms headed for the green bush and for local streams and rivers. One family placed their children in the empty water tank and hung wet blankets around it while the farmer and his wife braved sparks and flying objects to keep the tank damp.
At around 4am on Tuesday, Joseph AKERSTEN (AKERSTON in some reports) abandoned his house on the Mangaeturoa South Road, with his wife (?), their young child and their farm worker, Sydney SCOTT. With the thick smoke and gale force winds the family quickly became exhausted. Sydney tried to urge them on to no avail and he took to a tree where he somehow survived. Unfortunately the family lost their lives and were found the next day.
The fires raged in the area from Horopito to Mangaeturoa, along Waipuna Ridge, to the back of Morikau Station, Matahiwi Track and the west side of the Parapara Road to Kakatahi. Ohakune township miraculously escaped damage even though surrounded by fire. The fires also destroyed Rangataua and Karioi where mills and homesteads were destroyed.
The smoke was so thick and hung over the lower half of the North Island and the north bound ferry from Lyttelton could not find its way through the Wellington Heads. In Carterton, in the Wairarapa, schools and factories were closed for the day as there was not enough daylight for work.
Between 9 and 10am on the 19th March, the rain began to fall. Stumps and rotten logs continued to burn for several days but the main terror was over.
It was found that 100 residences had been destroyed, as well as many commercial and farm buildings. The dead stock were soon a problem and with no bulldozers to bury them, the stench became nauseating. The rebuilding of the lost buildings was also a problem due to the shortage of timber and many of the homeless lived in tents, boarding houses or the homes of friends until timber became available.
The winter of 1918 was exceptionally hard with several heavy falls of snow, some laying of the ground for over three weeks. Then in November came the Influenza Epidemic which struck the Waimarino severely. It was said that the quantities of smoke and ash inhaled by so many people at the time of the fire was a contributing factor to the diproportionately large number of deaths during the epidemic.
Government aid was soon authorised and the Waimarino slowly returned to normal. As you drive through this area today please take a thought for the residents of the area during those terrible days.
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March 28, 2012, 01:19:55 AM