Forest Fire Legislation^ 



Final Report of Committee Published. 



(At the annual meeting Dr. B. E. Fernow, 

 on behalf of the committee, presented the follow- 

 ing report, the printing of which was delayed 

 until some details loere completed.) 



Your Committee on Forest Fire 

 Legislation can report with gratifica- 

 tion the developments of the past 

 year; highly important progress in 

 all parts of the Dominion in coping 

 with the fire fiend having been made. 



Early in the year the Federal 

 Board of Railway Commissioners 

 held a number of public hearings at 

 Ottawa and Toronto, at which your 

 Association, your Committee, the 

 Commission of Conservation, the Gov- 

 ernment of British Columbia, • as an 

 important moving spirit, and repre- 

 sentatives of the various Railroad 

 Companies were heard. 



At the request of the Board the 

 Chairman of your Committee, acting 

 at the same time as representative of 

 the Commission of Conservation, 

 formulated the principles upon which 

 the Board should proceed in legislat- 

 ing for protection against fires aris- 

 ing from railroads. 



The final result of these hearings 

 was the issuance of a most compre- 

 hensive order (No. 16570) covering 

 every phase of the subject, and espec- 

 ially providing a thorough organiza- 

 tion with a Chief Fire Inspector at 

 the head, who acts at the same time 

 as Forester to the Commission of Con- 

 servation. 



It may be said that this legislation 

 is the most advanced for this phase 

 of the subject on this continent, cov- 

 ering under one authority probably 

 not less than 22,000 miles of track. 



The organization has been vigorous- 

 ly put in order by the Chief Fire 

 Inspector. The main principle of the 

 organization is that it delegates dis- 

 cretionary power to the Chief Inspec- 

 tor, which is necessary on account of 

 the great variety of conditions to be 



met with on such a vast territory. 

 Another feature of the organization 

 is the co-operation with other agen- 

 cies like the federal and provincial 

 forest services or provincial govern- 

 ments by appointing their officials in 

 charge of fire protection as local in- 

 spectors, also to some extent with dis- 

 cretionary powers, for the Railway 

 Commission. 



It is also to be noted with satis- 

 faction that the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Company and the Great Nor- 

 thern Railway Company have install- 

 ed oil-burning locomotives on por- 

 tions of their lines, and are likely to 

 extend the operation of such, there- 

 by reducing the danger from this 

 source of forest fires greatly. 



Unfortunately, the jurisdiction of 

 the Hoard of Railway Commissioners 

 does not extend over all the railways, 

 some of the provincially owned or 

 chartered and the Intercolonial and 

 Transcontinental railroads being out- 

 side of its jurisdiction. As to the 

 latter, it would appear a most incon- 

 gruous and illogical situation if these 

 federally owned or constructed lines 

 shouhl continue to remain without an 

 organization similar to that which the 

 government now imposes upon the 

 privately owned lines. These roads 

 are managed by special co-ordinate 

 commissions, and hence are beyond 

 the influence of the Railway Commis- 

 sion. It is hoped that these com- 

 missions will soon adopt similar 

 methods as are detailed in Order 

 16570. 



The provincially chartered railways 

 form only a small fraction of the 

 railway system, and are subject to 

 the provincial laws for fire protec- 

 tion, which in Quebec under the Pub- 

 lic Utilities Commission's Order is 

 almost identical with the Railway 

 Board's Order, and in most of the 

 othci- provinces this service is quite 



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