The New York Forest Fire Law. 1 37 



"Section 229: Fires to clear land. — Fallows, stumps, logs, 

 fallen timber, brush or dry. grass shall not be burned in the ter- 

 ritory hereinafter described from April first to May thirty-first 

 both inclusive, or from September sixteenth to November tenth 

 both inclusive. From June first to September fifteenth both in- 

 clusive such fires may be^set therein if written permission of the 

 Town Firewarden of the town or District Firewarden of the dis- 

 trict in which the fire is set is first obtained. If in a locality 

 near forest or woodland, the fire warden or district firewarden 

 shall be personally present when the fire is started. Such fires 

 shall not be started during a heavy wind or without sufficient 

 help present to control the same, and the same shall be watched by 

 the person setting the fire until put out. Any person violating 

 any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and in 

 addition thereto is liable to a penaltj' of three hundred dollars. 

 This section applies as follows.* The section is completed by the 

 enumeration of sixty eight Adirondack and seventeen Catskill 

 towns, which are known as ' ' fallow towns. ' ' 



The firewarden law has been in force for some time, but not 

 until three years ago, when the office of Chief Firewarden was 

 created, was it effective. Before the Chief Firewarden was 

 appointed there was no one who had the time to look after the 

 large number of wardens ; they were a law unto themselves, 

 negligent about reports and some of them lawbreakers. The 

 present law places all the responsibility in a single person — the 

 Chief Firewarden. He in turn holds each Town Warden re- 

 sponsible for reports of all fires and the enforcement of the law. 

 in his town. The town warden in turn depends on his district 

 wardens in the same manner. The law is very weak in that there 

 is no punishment for inabilitj^ or negligence of firewardens, ex- 

 cept their removal. This weakness will exist unless the office is 

 made a salaried one, when a person would be willing to be re- 

 sponsible for enforcement of the law and attention to his duties, 

 or by placing the responsibility on some town officer, e.g., the 

 Supervisor. It so happens in some towns that the firewarden 

 has so much business of his own that he does not have time to 



*This section was amended by the Legislature of 1903 to read as above. 

 The words "brush or dry grass" were inserted and the time to allow 

 farmers to burn fallow extended ten days in June and fourteen days in 

 September. 



