News and Notes. 295 



The latest Canadian railway to organize especially for the more 

 efficient handling of fire protection work is the Algoma Central 

 and Hudson Bay Railway. This line taps a heavily timbered sec- 

 tion in Central Ontario, extending north from Sault Ste. Marie. 

 D. C. A. Galarneau has been appointed forester to the Company, 

 with duties which will include supervision of railway fire pro- 

 tection. 



The lowest level of forest fire loss on record in Canada was 

 reached this year on Dominion Forest Reserves in Western Can- 

 ada. On the reserves in British Columbia, not a single fire suc- 

 ceeded in spreading over a larger area than 10 acres. The re- 

 cords are not yet complete for Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but 

 the available figures compare favorably with those for the re- 

 serves farther West. All the figures compare favorably with 

 corresponding ones for the National Forests of the United States 

 where the area burned in 1913, although the smallest in recent 

 years, was somewhat over 0.03 per cent, of the total reserved 

 area. 



In the Fire Districts on Dominion Crown Lands in the west 

 patrolled by Dominion fire rangers the loss occasioned by forest 

 fires last season is also remarkably small, not due entirely to the 

 large amount of rain which fell last summer in the West. In 

 the Coast Fire Ranging District, B. C, which being situated in 

 the Railway Belt is administered by the Dominion Forestry 

 Branch, during June, July and August no less than tio fires 

 occurred, yet all of these fires were extinguished by the fire- 

 rangers before any standing timber was destroyed. 



That the fire loss in the West has been so remarkably small is 

 due in large measure to the fact that the Government rangers un- 

 ceasingly sought, and obtained, the co-operation of all with whom 

 they came in contact, whether settler, Indian, hunter, tourist or 

 packer. 



During 1913 the forces on the National Forests fought 4,520 

 fires or nearly twice as many as started in 1912. In both years, 

 practically 50 per cent, of all fires were detected and extinguished 

 before they burned over a quarter of an acre, and 25 per cent, 

 were put out before they covered 10 acres. In only 25 fires did 

 the damage amount to $1,000. The aggregate loss in timber and 



