Report of the Department of Lands and Forests for 1950 No. 3 



DIVISION OF FOREST PROTECTION 



FIRE AND HAZARD CONDITIONS 



The 1948 fire season was one of the most severe on record. During May and 

 June, extremely bad burning conditions prevailed across the Province, particularly 

 in the area north of Georgian Bay. During July and August, rains alleviated the 

 situation considerably, but in September, drought conditions again prevailed and 

 severe lightning storms occurred particularly in the Central Region. The drought 

 conditions lessened in the eastern half of the Province during October but became 

 worse in the western part, particularly in Rainy Lake area and along the Ontario- 

 Manitoba boundary. This condition obtained until November 10th when fall rains 

 and colder weather brought the fire season to a close. 



Two fires which broke out on ]\Iay 25th in the ^vlississagi Provincial Forest 

 burned a total of 645,340 acres or 63 -r of the total area burned over and accounted 

 for 76 '^t of the total timber damage. 



FIRE CONTROL PLANNING 



Progress in fire control planning during the year included the following 

 projects. 



1. Installation of 15 additional weather stations and improvement of existing 

 stations. This brings the total number of main weather recording stations to 

 73 and the number of supplementary stations to 57. 



2. First edition of a manual "Instructions for Rating the Fire Danger and Laying 

 out Fire Weather Stations'' was completed, printed, and issued. 



3. First edition of a manual "Fuel Type Mapping Instructions'' was completed, 

 printed and issued. 



4. First edition of a manual "Area Seen flapping Instructions" was completed, 

 printed and issued. 



5. The fire report form was completely revised and brought up to date. 



6. The "Area Seen Survey" was continued with five men taking part. This survey 

 was completed and a report on the present tower system in the province on the 

 basis of this survey was compiled. 



7. Basic data required in fire control planning was compiled for the province. This 

 included the zones of constant fire danger, accessibility map, fire occurrence 

 map, climatic data, soil moisture conditions, etc. 



8. The transportation plan, particularly for the less accessible areas in the province, 

 was completely revised and brought up to date. 



9. The detection plan for the province was revised and brought up to date. 

 10. The use of the portable tower for tower location work was continued. 



HAZARD DISPOSAL 



The fire guard at Larder Lake was extended by thirty acres and thirty-five 

 acres at Kearns Townsite was cleared. The work was carried out by a local firm 

 and the cost credited to their account for timber dues. 



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