Canadian Forestry Journal, October, 1919 



403 



Chasing spark-throwers. Railway velocipede for following up trains. 



THE RIGHT WAY TO CUT THE FIRE LOSS 



The following excerpt from a recent report 

 by Mr. A. B. Connell, Supervisor of the Pasqu'a 

 Forest Reserve in northern Saskatchewan, will 

 be found of particular interest and significance 

 in view of the heavy fire losses sustained during 

 the past spring on all the neighboring forest 

 reserves in that part of the west, and confirms 

 the wisdom of thoroughly equipping the re- 

 serves with protective improvements so as to 

 embody to the fullest possible extent the savmg 

 principle of prevention. 



Summary Report, Pasquia Reserve, 

 Spring Fire Season, 1919. 



"The spring fire season on this reserve is now 

 over, and it proved to be the most dangerous 

 season smce the reserve was organized. A large 

 number of fires started at different times, but 

 the staff succeeded in holding each fire in check 

 and in getting it out before any material damage 

 was done to the reserve. 



"The fires started from a variety of causes, 

 which is natural, when the country was in such 

 a dry condition. In fact the starting of fires 

 in such a dry season is difficult to prevent, but 

 our experience this year has proved beyond 

 doubt that all fires which start can be success- 

 fully handled and put out before any damage 



to the reserve results, provided the organization 

 is properly maintained. It was necessary to 

 fight several fires at some distance from the re- 

 serve to prevent them getting out of hand and 

 coming into the reserve, and the expense of 

 handling all the fires was rather large. The 

 fact that a disastrous fire was prevented how- 

 ever, when conditions were so unfavorable jus- 

 tifies the expenditure, which, after all, will be 

 nearly covered by the revenue from the reserve 

 for the present year. 



I have been expecting and preparing for 

 just such a season as this ever since the fire 

 season of 1915, when several townships in the 

 reserve were burned owing entirely to lack of 

 organization and preparation. This season was 

 much more dangerous than that of 1915, and I 

 ascribe our success in handling the situation to 

 the following factors: 



I. The improvements constructed during 

 the past three years, particularly the Mistatim 

 Telephone Line, which has paid for itself many 

 times over this spring, and the lookout towers 

 and trails. Of all the improvements the tele- 

 phones proved to be by far the most useful 

 as by their aid it was possible to get at the 

 fires iinmodiatolv. 



