46 REPORT OF THE FOREST COMMISSION. 



total is chargeable to 27 fires which burned on dates that stand 

 out as notably hazardous. Thirteen of these, driven by high 

 winds, burned 500 acres or more, with an aggregate of almost 

 20,000 acres out of the year's total of 53,823 acres. 



CAUSES OF FIRES. 

 (See Table IV.) 

 RAILROAD FIRES. 



Of. the known agents, the railroads are as they have always 

 been, the worst offenders. This year they started 31 per cent 

 of the true forest fires and 57 per cent of those described as 

 embryo fires, any of which but for prompt attention might have 

 ranked as* a forest fire. This preponderance of railroad fires 

 need not be, as is strikingly indicated in the experience of the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad system (see Table V). By exercising 

 care in the operation of its locomotives, and by emphasizing the 

 importance of fire control, this company almost nullified the 

 dangers of the season, and reduced the number of fires on ac- 

 count of which claims for expenses were made from 63 a year 

 ago to 18 this year. 



The marked difference between this and the Atlantic City 

 Railroad's record suggests a failure to solve the mechanical and 

 administrative problems involved in the kind of fuel used, the 

 type of locomotive and its operation. Portions of this line, as 

 of the New Jersey Central Railroad, run through a territory 

 so sparsely peopled that large fires are easily developed through 

 lack of help to control them in the early stages. 



BRUSH FIRES. 



Fires from brush burning were 9 more than occurred last year. 

 True forest fires from this cause were fewer than in any previous 

 year's record, the slight increase being all in embryo fires. This 

 record reflects directly the decreased number of unnecessary 

 fires now started under the permit requirement, and the in- 

 creased caution that strict enforcement of the permit Law has 

 secured. 



