Illustrated Canadian Forestry Magazine, December^, ip20 



569 



Quebec's Way of Protecting 

 Forests from Fire 



By B. N. O'Hara, 

 Assistant Superintendent Forest Protection Branch, Quebec 



Forest fire protection in the province 

 of Quebec is provided for by : 



(a) The Forest Protective Associa- 

 tions. 



(b) The Limit-Holders who are not 

 affiHated to the Associations. 



(c) The Provincial Government's 

 special organizations ,in different sections. 



(d) The Railway Board. 



(e) The Public Utilities Commission. 



The whole coming under the super- 

 vision of the Provincial Government. 

 The Associations are subsidized by the 

 Government, to whom they make month- 

 ly reports of their activities and submit 

 all claims for forest fire fighting. One 

 half of the amount of said claims — if 

 approved — being paid by the Govern- 

 ment, the other half being paid by the As- 

 sociations. 



The Limit-Holders who are not affiliat- 

 ed to the Associations, also file all claims 

 for fire fighting on licensed lands, to the 

 Government, who pay one half of the 

 claim, if it is approved, the limit-holder 

 paying tlie otlier half. 



All I^'i re- Rangers are chosen and paid 

 by those who employ them, but they are 

 appointed by the Government, who sup- 

 plies them with a badge, forms of reports 

 to be sent in monthly, cotton and other 

 posters. I'lic Rangers employed by the 

 Associations report to their respective 

 Associations. .All other Rangers report 

 directly to the Government. 



The fire organization of this Province 

 applies to Government owned lands. 



Tlic owners of free-hold lands arc ex- 

 pected to i)rotect their lioMings at their 

 own expense, though in certain cases. 

 where tire occurs on private!) owned 

 lands, it ^ui-h lirr appears to he a menace 

 to tlie L'rown Lands in thr \ii.inity, it is 

 fought by those entrusted with ilie patrol- 

 ling and protection of tlie (iovemment 

 lands of the locality and the expense of 

 same is paid for by the l\')'arlnu'iU of 

 Lands and I'^orests. 



Hozv the Associations Work. 



There are four Forest Protective As- 

 sociations in the Province of Quebec. 

 Each Association having its own Board 

 of Directors. The territory protected by 

 each Association is subdivided into dis- 

 tricts under Inspectors who take their 

 orders from the Manager, or Superin- 

 tendent of the Association and who also 

 allots a certain number of fire-rangers to 

 each district, these rangers coming direct- 

 ly under the instructions of the Inspec- 

 tor. These Associations are : 



THE OTTAWA RIVER FOREST 

 PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION, em- 

 ploying one manager and two hundred 

 and twenty inspectors and fire-rangers to 

 protect 26,614 square miles. 



THE ST-MAURICE FOREST 

 PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION, em- 

 ploying one manager and sixty-eight in- 

 spectors and fire-rangers, of which ten 

 are employed on R. R. fire patrol, to pro- 

 tect 13,301 square miles. 



THE LAURENTIAN FOREST 

 PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION, em- 

 ploying one manager and eighty-five in- 

 spectors and fire-rangers, to protect a 

 territory of 11.163 square miles. 



THE SOUTHERN ST-LAWR- 

 ENCE PROTECTI\'E ASSOCIA- 

 TION, is tlivided into the W'estern and 

 the Eastern sections. The West part con- 

 tains 2,290 square miles and employs one 

 manager and forty-four fire-ranger^. 

 The East part contains about 6.000 

 s(|uarc miles and employs one manager 

 and 120 inspectors and fire-rangers. 



The unaffiliated Limit-Holders, em- 

 ploy L^() lire-r.angers. 



The l'n)vincial (iovemment employ 

 one Inspector and 2<> tire-rangers in tlie 

 .\bitibi District, and in the Lake St-John 

 District, 2 Inspectors and ** tire-rangers. 

 .At Raw don 1 special tiro-ranger. In the 

 ( laspe I'ensula 1 Insi>ector anil on the 

 North Shore 3 lnspecti>rs. wliose work 



