FIREWARDEN'S REPORT. 



45 



NUMBER AND AREA OF FIRES. 



In numbers, the record of fires of 1913, as shown in Table III 

 below, bears out the expected increase in the embryo class due 

 to more conscientious reporting of every fire. The marked 

 increase in the number of true forest fires mirrors the acute 

 climatic conditions of the Spring. The striking feature is that, 

 with so many more fires started under adverse conditions, the 

 proportion of them that reached five acres in size shows so 

 slight an increase over that of a year ago. See Table III. It is 

 encouraging to find that 54 per cent of all fires recorded were 

 but embryos and that but 13 per cent burned more than 100 

 acres. The total area burned marks a still greater increase 

 over a year ago, though analysis shows that 80 per cent of the 



TABLE III. FOREST FIRES BY RELATIVE AREA BURNED, AND BY 



COUNTIES, 1913. 



