Raetihi forest fire

[2] Dairy farmers would typically burn off the fields at the end of summer, and in March 1918 they set fires as usual to clear the land, believing the dry conditions would make the job easier.

The fire destroyed many buildings in Raetihi, including three churches, the police station, council offices, a maternity home and various businesses.

Hundreds of refugees were taken from Raetihi to Ohakune, described in newspaper reports:Children in their night attire, men and women in working clothes, with swollen eyes and blackened faces, spoke of the terrible and trying time they had gone through.

[ ... ] Just as one train arrived the rain came down heavier, the confusion in consequence being fearful—crying children, sobbing mothers, and fathers being led, for they were nearly blind after fighting for their homes out back.

[8] A road bridge near Raetihi was destroyed, and the southbound Main Trunk train had to stop at Horopito after the Taonui Viaduct was partially burnt.

[10] Trees in unmilled forests were burned or blown down by the cyclonic winds, but only about 100 acres of timber on Crown land was destroyed.

In Feilding and Palmerston North, people had to use artificial lighting indoors in shops and businesses and car drivers needed to put their headlights on, and in Carterton factories and schools closed because of the poor visibility.

Immediately after communication was regained and word spread about the disaster, communities around New Zealand sent clothing and food to the area and set up relief funds, raising £14,000 in total.

[19] In addition, the government provided £45,000 to lend to farmers to enable them to rebuild farm buildings and fences and buy more stock.

[10] In 2018, a community event was held in Raetihi to commemorate the fire that had happened 100 years previously, and a plaque was unveiled at the cemetery there.