Fire in the Hills: A History of Rural Fire-Fighting in New Zealand

Beaglehole, Helen

ISBN 10: 192714535X / ISBN 13: 9781927145357

Editore: Canterbury University Press, Christchurch, 2012

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New and Unread. Over six to seven hundred years, Maori burned about one third of New Zealand's ground cover. In the following 70 years, and at a devastating rate, European settlers burned about another third as they cleared and 'improved' the land. All too frequently, burn-offs became uncontrollable conflagrations that swept through thousands of hectares, destroying cattle, fences, homes and livelihoods, and burning mills and much-needed timber. Townsfolk, blanketed in dense, acrid smoke needed lights at mid-day; ships, unable to pick up landmarks, sat marrooned in harbour - yet the burning, as in other frontier societies, remained unabated and largely unquestioned. It is against that background that Helen Beaglehole sets the fascinating and previously unexplored history of how settlers' random and careless burning led, in 1921, to legislation that still underpins New Zealand's official policy on wildfire. She explores the huge public education campaign that sought to convince all sectors of the public that mindless burning had to be retrained, and traces how increasingly sophisticated fire-fighting technologies, coupled with developing knowledge of weather and fire behaviour, were used to prevent, contain and extinguish fire. Finally she looks at the early Forest Service employees who in effect became the nation's first rural firefighters, their skills honed in the vast controlled burns of the 1960s, '70s and '80s, and describes the regime established after the Service's demise and the issues faced today. As with Helen Beaglehole's two books on New Zealand's lighthouses and lighthouse keeping, Fire in the Hills is grounded in detailed and extensive research. Information from historical records is incorporated with material from interviews with past and present rural firefighters and administrators, bringing vividly to light the times, the people and the problems they faced. Some 200 photographs further broaden our historical understanding.

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Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Fire in the Hills: A History of Rural Fire-Fighting in New Zealand
• Editore: Canterbury University Press, Christchurch
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 192714535X
• ISBN 13: 9781927145357
• Rilegatura: Soft cover
• Condizione: New
• Cataloghi dei venditori:
  • Aotearoa, New Zealand
  • History

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Gripping and fascinating, this illustrated account explores a previously unstudied yet important aspect of New Zealand’s history: its wildfires. Examining the terrible fires that devastated the country as both Maori and European settlers wrested a livelihood from the land, this book explains the European mentality behind the fires and the resulting vocal arguments against the terrible loss of valuable resources. Based on historical records and oral interviews with employees of the State Forest Service, it also offers a comprehensive look into the approaches and techniques involved in tackling this phenomenon—including the efforts of rural firefighters from the shovel and bucket brigade and those of the firemen and women who form a huge, largely volunteer network.

Informazioni sull'autore

Helen Beaglehole is a New Zealand writer of juvenile and adult fiction and nonfiction. She is the author of Lighting the Coast.