FOREvST FIRES OF 1909. 



The year 1909 marked the first season and trial of the Maine 

 Forestry District. Under the provisions of the bill the appro- 

 priation for the work of prevention and extinguishment of 

 forest fires amounted to about $64,000, instead of $20,000 which 

 had heretofore been the limit of appropriation by the state. 



This increased appropriation allowed for the employment of 

 more patrols and the establishment of more lookout stations, 

 resulting in a small loss from forest fires, the percentage being 

 insignificant compared with the total wooded area of the state. 



The selectmen of towns were also working under their new 

 fire law and from all that could be learned this law stimulated 

 the municipal officers to more carefully watch the woodlands in 

 the towns, as the municipalities were made liable for negligence 

 on the part of the selectmen. 



In 1909 Aroostook County was marked as the "dry belt" of 

 the state, resulting in many more fires. Considering the dry- 

 ness of the season and the timbered area of the county, 

 the damage was very small, being estimated at $43,209, or 

 about two-thirds of the loss in the whole state. The incor- 

 porated towns of Aroostook, which are wholly under the care 

 of the selectmen, suffered a loss of 6,315 acres of timbered land 

 at an estimated damage of $15,890. 



Oxford County, which is within the Maine Forestry Dis- 

 trict, was the most fortunate of any in the state, as there was 

 not a single fire reported in either the wild land sections or in 

 the incorporated towns. 



Piscataquis County, with its nearly 2,000,000 acres of wild 

 land, valued at nine and one-half millions of dollars, escaped 

 with so nearly a clean slate that it is scarcely worth mentioning, 

 the area burned over being only six acres, and that scattered 

 over three townships. The estimated damage was only $77. 

 That constituted the whole loss to the timber interests of that 

 county, as not a fire was reported from the incorporated towns 

 in 1909. 



