Baby birds saved from burning tree

Matata Volunteer Firefighters stopped a tree from burning down and saved baby birds in a nest last night. Photos: Facebook.

Baby birds in a nest and a large hollow macrocarpa tree are safe and well this morning after tree fire in the Bay of Plenty.

At 5.11pm, the Matata Fire Brigade siren called volunteers to a tree fire east of Matata.

'A full crew for MATA941 headed out along Thornton Road to the address provided, where the owner showed us a large hollow macrocarpa tree that was smoking from the inside,” says a post on the brigade's Facebook page.

'Embers from a burn-off had flown into the hollow and several hours later had lit the inside of the tree.

'Our crew pulled out the portable pump then poured large volumes of water into the hollow while also clearing vegetation so we could gain better access.

'Finding a birds' nest with chicks inside, we also carefully relocated them to another branch, while we worked on the smoking tree.”

After about 90 minutes of this without much success, the crew got some advice from the Rural Fire Officer.

'We then persisted a little long finishing off by pumping some foam into the cavity.

'Although the tree was still smoking, it provided no risk to property and there was no risk of it spreading so we left it at that to see what eventuated overnight.”
There were no more calls overnight and the tree was happily still standing this morning.

75 CALLOUTS THIS YEAR
49 Medical, 8 Weather, 9 Fire, 7 MVA, 2 Activation

Fire Safety Tip: When burning off consider your worst case scenario, clear a larger area than you need, check often the wind direction, know where your risks are and monitor them often and make sure you have a plan if things do being to go west.

You may also like....

1 comment

Safety first

Posted on 14-12-2018 13:10 | By clingon

A timely reminder to keep matches and lighters safely locked away- you never know when baby birds might find them and set fire to their home ..


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.