144 



REPOET OF THE 



No. 3 



Classification of Forest Fires, 1918 



By Month 



1918 1917 



By Origin 



1918 1917 



By Size 



1918 1917 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August . . , 

 September 



No. 

 79 

 215 

 278 

 124 

 268 

 6 



No. 



449 



320 



158 



117 



66 



965 1 1110 



Settlers 



Campers 



Railways . . . 

 Lightning ... 



Indians 



Logging oper. 

 Miscellaneous 

 Unknown . . . . 



J ac. and under... 



Over 4 to 5 ac 



Over 5 to 10 ac 



Over 10 to 100 ac. . 

 Over 100 to 500 ac 

 -Over 500 ac 



36.3 



19.5 



4.8 



9.5 



4.7 



25.2 



lOC.O 



Railway Fires. — As in 1917, nearly one-half (46,5 per cent.) of the total 

 number of fires for the season was of railway origin, that is to say, to defective 

 locomotives or carelessness on the part of railway employees. The unsatisfactory 

 condition of fire protective appliances on locomotives is evident from the state- 

 ment regarding locomotive inspection farther on in this report. Along with this 

 it must be remembered that right-of-way conditions are at least equally as im- 

 portant as the maintenance standard of locomotives from the standpoint of 

 forest fire hazard. 



It must be clearly kept in mind that by " railway fires " are meant specifically 

 those of railway origin. The term does not by any means include all those fires 

 occurring along railway lines. Thus, this season, 538 fires were reported as 

 starting on the right-of-way or immediately adjacent thereto. As to cause, these 

 were classified thus : due to railways, 449 ; other known causes, 19 ; of unknown 

 origin, 70; that Is to say 89 fires or 16.5 per cent, of those along railway lines 

 were not charged to railway operation. 



STRICTLY RAILWAY FIRES, 1918 



Railway 



Mileage through 

 Forest Section 



No. 

 Fires 



Per cent 

 of total fires 



In the case of all the above lines the majority of the fires were reported from 

 a comparatively small percentage of the total mileage concerned. Thus of the 114 

 Canadian Northern fires, 29, 24, 14 and 10 fires occurred on the Euel, Muskoka, 

 North Bay and Maynooth subdivisions respectively; that is to say, two-thirds 

 of the fires happened on 4 out of the 13 subdivisions. Likewise in the case of 



