A total of 300 Indians were given a 10-day course in fire 

 suppression bringing the total trained to date to 1,190. These 

 Indians are employed on a rotation basis as standby sup- 

 pression crews at strategic locations across the Province. 

 Forest pest control was carried out on 11.500 acres of Crown 

 owned or managed forest lands in 1956. The main effort 

 was concentrated on the white pine weevil, the European 

 pine sawfly, white pine blister rust and fomes root rot. 

 In an effort to provide additional skilled labour for removal 

 of diseased elm trees, the Department initiated and co- 

 ordinated an interdepartmental project to train 55 Indian 

 young men for this work. 



The radio communications network was expanded to a total 

 of 2.605 receiver-transmitter units. 



MAIN CAUSES OF FOREST FIRES 



tCauses 



Lightning 



Industrial — logging , 



Industrial — others 



Recreation 



Resident 



Railways 



Incendiary 



Miscellaneous 



Unknown 



Fires 



Acres 



1,921 



MAJOR MEANS OF FIRE DETECTION 



Number 



14,415 



Percent 



Public 872 



Towers 560 



Aircraft 325 



Department Employees 96 



Other Government Employees 68 



Totals 1,921 



FOREST FIRES BY MONTH 



April May June 



45 



29 



17 



5 



4 



100 



No. of Fires 81 316 233 



Acres Burned 289 5801 4570 2671 615 150 319 



July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. 

 908 215 113 54 1 



Total number of fires 

 Total acres burned 



1,921 



AIR SERVICE 



Nine DeHavilland Turbo-Beavers and one Twin Otter were 

 purchased in continuation of the program to modernize the 

 Department's fleet of aircraft. A total of 15 Turbo-Beavers 

 are now in operation. Ten piston powered Beavers were sold 

 by public tender. 



The "Ontario Integral Float Water Bombing System" was 

 installed in a total of 10 Otters and 15 Turbo-Beavers. Two 

 Otters and two Turbo-Beavers were also equipped with a 

 system designed to give the option of using plain water or 

 "Gelgard" additive. "Gelgard" is a chemical water thickener 

 which under certain conditions improves fire suppressive 

 action. 



An air operations study has been initiated to provide guide- 

 lines to the present and long term development of the Air 

 Service. 



Flying operations were carried out from 26 bases during the 

 fire season. Twelve of these bases provide year-round flying 

 service necessary in resources management work. 

 Five helicopters were again operated under contract from 

 May 1 to September 30 to provide transportation in fighting 

 fires in areas not accessible to conventional aircraft. 

 Total flying time of Department aircraft was 14,752:40 hours, 

 and a total of 36,702 personnel and passengers and 

 13,200,064 pounds were carried. The number of hours flown 

 by helicopters under contract was 1,784:10 and by other 

 leased helicopters and fixed wing aircraft was 2,323:10 hours. 

 Seventeen mercy flights were carried out, totalling 25:15 

 hours, 



FLYING HOURS — 1966-67 



Nature of Flight 



Dept. 

 Aircraft 



HOURS FLOWN 

 Helicopter 



under 

 contract Others 



Forest Protection 4,148:25 1,292:15 1,915:40 7,356:20 



Timber Management 1,266:40 



Fish & Wildlife 



Lands & Surveys 



Parks 



Research 



Administration 



Interdepartmental 



3,761:45 

 469:45 

 298:15 

 277:35 



3,968:20 

 561:55 



69:20 



140:50 



29:45 

 29:05 



3:00 



218:55 



1:00 



54:35 1,390:35 

 212:45 4,115:20 



14,415 



26:00 525:30 



11:10 338:30 



— 280:35 



26:50 4,214:05 



76:10 639:05 



14,752:40 1,784:10 2,323:10 18,860:00 



