48 RKI'ORT OF THK FOREST COMMISSION. 



SMOKERS' FIRES. 



A hopeful fact is the increased proportion of fires fixed on 

 this -source. There can be no doubt that, next to the railroads, 

 smokers create the greatest fire menace to our woodlands be- 

 cause they are the most difficult to control. That the wardens 

 have this year fixed double the number of fires upon this agency 

 that they did in 1912 strengthens the belief that promptness 

 and persistence are telling. 



SPORTSMEN'S FIRES. 



Each year with the advent of the open seasons for fish and 

 game, a series of fires begins for which sportsmen are respons- 

 ible. Whether they be fishermen or gunners, they, like the 

 smokers, are most difficult to apprehend, both because they 

 themselves are transients and because the regions into which 

 their pursuit takes them are unpeopled and remote. ' Although 

 fires from this cause have not been isolated in the published 

 records heretofore there has been an annual increase in the 

 number known to have so originated. Intentional responsibility 

 is not charged in this connection ; indeed, the sportsman's inter- 

 est demands unburne'd woodland. The excitement of the sport 

 and a failure to appreciate the significance of a spark are gen- 

 erally to blame for such fires. Control of these fires depends 

 upon the development of a higher sense of responsibility among 

 the sportsmen. 



MISCELLANEOUS FIRES. 



Year by year a small proportion of the fires, smaller this 

 year than last, arises from causes too varied to deserve special 

 consideration. Of these the huckleberry pickers cause most and 

 are most difficult to control. Children at play also cause a 

 number of fires, Especial effort is being made to reduce this 

 danger through the schools, the Boy Scout Movement and other 

 channels. 



