Just after midnight on 1st August 1975 even though I could not sleep, I was awoken by heavy rapping on the door. The guy Chettleburgh who lived temporally down by the overhead bridge wanted to tell me of the red glow at the back of the forest. It had been blowing strongly from the Northwest all night which was why I could not sleep.
Northwest winds are warm and dry, usually with humidity plummeting. Dangerous for fires!
I rang Bob Shaw who was O/C at the time, but he did not hear his phone above the sound of the wind, so I phoned Skip Wilson and asked him to raise Bob and I would meet him at my gate. Skip should keep watch and alert the troops should that be necessary.
Shortly after, and the wind was increasing in velocity all the time, Bob picked me up in the CF Bedford and we hurried into the forest. It was obvious the fire was at the back of the forest, so we headed up Breakneck Road via Rodman's Road and once on Mount Misery Road we could see that the fire was far away on Tabletop and would not endanger the forest or the South Block as we watched, a fireball jumped 500 metre to set another patch of Manuka alight.
So we were not concerned so much about the fire being a danger to the forest.
The wind was powerful and I had to exit the truck to open the gates on Mount Misery Road and the one from Breakneck Road. Stones that were the road surface were flying through the air - some as big a golf balls. As well other debris was flying! There was a full moon so it was quite light and the wind was warm.
Back on Breakneck Road I did not bother to close the gate because of the force of the wind - the truck shook like a jet breaking the sound barrier. Breakneck Road travels through pine forest and trees had begun to fall across the road and we had to either jump over them with the truck or push them out of the way. Further down the road we stopped to look at Compartment 41 as this was the first block to be production thinned after being pruned up to 11 metres. The trees were flapping around in the wind, bending over and snapping off at various heights. The cracking noise and the sound of the wind is indescribable!
We c
ould not pass what is now the golf course [the bottom of Middle Ridge Road] because some of the big old Euc globulus trees had fallen across the road. So I opened the gate into Conna Lynn
and we travelled across the golf course area to exit below the letterboxes. Next was the area of Bill Matches' trees - now built on - so we went through the lower gate into the area that was part of the Forest Headquarters site. There was a gate right under the high tension power lines. It was then that I realised what danger we were in and had been in - the hairs at the back of my neck stood up because of the whistling of those wires and the fear of them falling down!
When Bob dropped me off at the top of our drive, I had to force myself against the wind to get down the hill! It was hard work!
Mags and the kids were in our bed and frightened because the wind roaring by now and of course they were worried about me. The house was sheltered to some extent by a macrocarpa hedge. I climbed into bed with them - there was no electricity to light my way, but the moonlight was enough.
At some stage I
climbed out of bed and looked out of the window. After I got back in bed, I realised something was not quite right so I climbed out again and our garage had gone leaving my truck and car standing there in the moonlight!
Hanging on the rafters I had 100mm x 25mm possum boards, with skins stretched on them to dry - many of them I never recovered but I did find some way down by the railway bridge some 500 metres away!
In the light of day there was a lot of damage! We sent a crew into the township to clear away fallen trees from people's properties and in some cases putting on tarpaulins where roofs had been damaged. There was no other agency available at that time, so we stood up.
The storm devastated populations of birds such as blackbirds and starlings and grain silos were blown into the sea.
That day as always happens, the wind turned to cold Southwest but while storm-force, nowhere near as bad.
The damage in the forest was enormous with around 500 hectares being damaged. We were to spend a lot of time cleaning up.
Northwest winds are warm and dry, usually with humidity plummeting. Dangerous for fires!
I rang Bob Shaw who was O/C at the time, but he did not hear his phone above the sound of the wind, so I phoned Skip Wilson and asked him to raise Bob and I would meet him at my gate. Skip should keep watch and alert the troops should that be necessary.
Shortly after, and the wind was increasing in velocity all the time, Bob picked me up in the CF Bedford and we hurried into the forest. It was obvious the fire was at the back of the forest, so we headed up Breakneck Road via Rodman's Road and once on Mount Misery Road we could see that the fire was far away on Tabletop and would not endanger the forest or the South Block as we watched, a fireball jumped 500 metre to set another patch of Manuka alight.
So we were not concerned so much about the fire being a danger to the forest.
The wind was powerful and I had to exit the truck to open the gates on Mount Misery Road and the one from Breakneck Road. Stones that were the road surface were flying through the air - some as big a golf balls. As well other debris was flying! There was a full moon so it was quite light and the wind was warm.
Back on Breakneck Road I did not bother to close the gate because of the force of the wind - the truck shook like a jet breaking the sound barrier. Breakneck Road travels through pine forest and trees had begun to fall across the road and we had to either jump over them with the truck or push them out of the way. Further down the road we stopped to look at Compartment 41 as this was the first block to be production thinned after being pruned up to 11 metres. The trees were flapping around in the wind, bending over and snapping off at various heights. The cracking noise and the sound of the wind is indescribable!
We c
ould not pass what is now the golf course [the bottom of Middle Ridge Road] because some of the big old Euc globulus trees had fallen across the road. So I opened the gate into Conna Lynnand we travelled across the golf course area to exit below the letterboxes. Next was the area of Bill Matches' trees - now built on - so we went through the lower gate into the area that was part of the Forest Headquarters site. There was a gate right under the high tension power lines. It was then that I realised what danger we were in and had been in - the hairs at the back of my neck stood up because of the whistling of those wires and the fear of them falling down!
When Bob dropped me off at the top of our drive, I had to force myself against the wind to get down the hill! It was hard work!
Mags and the kids were in our bed and frightened because the wind roaring by now and of course they were worried about me. The house was sheltered to some extent by a macrocarpa hedge. I climbed into bed with them - there was no electricity to light my way, but the moonlight was enough.
At some stage I
climbed out of bed and looked out of the window. After I got back in bed, I realised something was not quite right so I climbed out again and our garage had gone leaving my truck and car standing there in the moonlight!Hanging on the rafters I had 100mm x 25mm possum boards, with skins stretched on them to dry - many of them I never recovered but I did find some way down by the railway bridge some 500 metres away!
In the light of day there was a lot of damage! We sent a crew into the township to clear away fallen trees from people's properties and in some cases putting on tarpaulins where roofs had been damaged. There was no other agency available at that time, so we stood up.
The storm devastated populations of birds such as blackbirds and starlings and grain silos were blown into the sea.
That day as always happens, the wind turned to cold Southwest but while storm-force, nowhere near as bad.
The damage in the forest was enormous with around 500 hectares being damaged. We were to spend a lot of time cleaning up.
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