REPORT OF WASHINGTON FOREST FIRE ASSOCIATION Three 



Report of the President 



To the Members of the Washington Forest Fire Association. 

 Gentlemen : 



The annual reports of the Chief Fire Warden of our Association, 

 and of the Secretary and Treasurer of our Association, all as con- 

 tained herein, set forth quite fully the record for the year 1911. 



During no year of the Association's existence has there been so 

 much dry, dangerous weather for forest fires as existed during the 

 months of July, August and September of the year 1914. About the 

 only condition that did not happen, that would be considered un- 

 favorable, was that we did not have very much high prevailing wind. 

 During the months named there was scarcely a drop of rain, and 

 brush fires and ground fires and fires in the slashings of loggers, were 

 more numerous than at any time in the history of our Association, and 

 yet with the close attention that was given to all these fires by the 

 patrolmen of our Association, and by the forest rangers and wardens 

 in the state, and of the Government rangers, as well as the interest 

 taken by the public at large, we escaped almost miraculously from any 

 wide-spread disaster. 



The figures show that the total aggregate of all timber fire killed 

 was approximately 30,000,000 feet and nearly all of this can, by 

 prompt attention, be saved from very much depreciation. This loss 

 expressed in figures gives the rather infinitesimal quantity of two- 

 tenths of one per cent of all the green standing timber in the State 

 of Washington. 



The season as a whole was one bringing anxiety and grave re- 

 sponsibility to all of the active forces at work in the suppression and 

 control of forest fires, and the exceedingly light loss sustained, pays 

 tribute to an excellent organization, well handled and to a co-operation 

 on the part of our Association with the State Forester and his forces 

 and with the Federal Department, showing a joint and harmonious 

 action that has brought about such beneficial results. 



From the very nature of forest fires, it is absolutely necessary to 

 suppress them wherever they are found, and in this way quite a little 

 of the energies of our Association are often directed in suppressing 

 fires in the timber belonging to individuals who contribute nothing for 

 this protection. Our Secretary's report calls attention to this fact, 

 his figures indicating that probably there is a million acres in Western 

 Washington that does not contribute directly to the expense connected 

 with forest fire patrol and protection. 



