The great fire of Raetihi

It was a hot dry day in a summer of hot dry days. Water tanks were empty and stream beds were dry.
Raetihi residents could smell smoke off and on throughout March 18, 1918. That by itself wasn’t unusual.
With farms being established all around the region, bush was cut back and left to dry to be burned off later.
But during the evening the wind picked up, reaching 140kmh. And a fire began to rage out of control.
The wind began carrying ash and sparks far and wide.
Houses and farms began burning and the fire raced toward Raetihi and residents hurried to leave. Some spent hours huddling under a bridge.
Families hurried to save themselves. One hid in an empty water tower while others headed for streams.
On Mangaeturoa South Road, Joseph Akersten abandoned his home along with Edith Harle and a six month old baby girl Edna. With them was their farm worker Sydney Scott.
They ran, but the smoke and heat left them exhausted. Scott opted to climb a tree while the small family decided to keep going.
The smoke was so thick it spread across the North Island, disrupting ferries and closing schools and factories after darkening the sky.
Mid-morning the next day it began to rain. It was just enough to stop the fire spreading further but people found trees and stumps still burning days later.
By the time it was over the full destruction could be seen . Over 100 homes destroyed, 11 mills - the life blood of the area - gone, along with shops, churches, the County Council chambers and a nursing home.
So much stock had died that bulldozers had to be brought in to bury them.
And in the burned remains, the bodies of Joseph, Edith and Edna were found. Scott had survived.
Joseph Michael Akersten had been born in Kaikoura in October 1892 to father Laurence and mother Sarah.
Edith - who had been married to another man Alfred Harle and had three children with him, was living with Joseph by 1918 - Edna had the last name Harle and it is unclear who her father was.
The fire was closely followed by one of the hardest winters ever and then, by November, the start of the influenza epidemic.
While cleared brush might have been responsible, it was also considered that a spark from a train on the newly developed North Island Main Trunk line might have started the fire.
Joseph, Edith and Edna were buried together in the Raetihi Cemetery.​