THE FOUNDATION FOR FORESTRY IN NEW JERSEY 



23 



IS a fire menace, before the necessary spark has found 

 it and done its damage. 



Unhke some sections of the country, in which natural 

 forces Hkc lightning cause many fires, forest fires in New 

 Jersey are almost invariably man-made. Whether it be 

 the 30 per cent caused by the railroads, or 15 per cent 

 from brush burning and campers' fires, or smokers set- 

 ting from 15 to 50 per cent, or the small proportion of the 

 total number from many other miscellaneous causes ; 

 someone's carelessness, ignorance or indifference is re- 

 sponsible. It is because of this that adequate facilities 

 for watching the woodlands and those who frequent them 

 will certainly stamp out the damage done by forest fire. 

 It is because of this that New Jersey is extremely for- 

 tunate in that her schools are all required to teach the 

 lesson of fire prevention, including the how and why of 

 keeping fire from the woods. It is because of this that 

 particular stress has always been laid upon ascertaining 

 who or what started every fire, so that it might be made 

 expensive and uncomfortable to set the woods afire and 

 people thereby be made more careful. 



In dealing with a number of the major causes of for- 

 est fire, the New Jersey legislation and practice differs 

 from that in many states. From the first it has been rec- 

 ognized in New Jersey's forest protection work, that, as 

 long as coal-burning locomotives were used, the most 

 perfect mechanical devices on the locomotives were but 

 partly effective at best and were always subject to de- 

 terioration or careless handling or both. Because of this, 

 the entire matter of locomotive inspection and the dis- 

 cipline of personnel has been left unrestricted in the 

 hands of the railroad companies and the whole forest fire 

 prevention effort has been centered on fire-proofing the 

 rights-of-way, so that not only locomotive sparks, but 

 carelessly discarded matches and smoking materials 

 might not be able to start forest fires. In addition, per- 

 sistent and apparently successful effort has been made to 

 fix responsibility for all of its fires upon each company 

 and to apply a penalty for each, as in the case of fires 

 from any other cause. Under this policy there have been 

 established permanent "fire lines," so called, along the 

 greater part of the forest trackage in the state, which, 

 where maintained in right condition, provide effective 

 protection save in abnormal danger periods. These lines 

 vary from a cleared zone on which all surface growth and 

 litter are destroyed with a strip of exposed material soil 

 on the outer margin, to a simple burning off of the ground 

 growth and litter frequently enough to keep it clear of 

 inflammable material. They vary in width with surface 

 conditions, with the topography and with the character 

 of the traffic. Also practice has varied from complete 

 clearing of all growth, trees included, to the encourage- 

 ment of the densest tree shade compatible with a clean 

 ground surface. The best results, however, appear to 

 require a belt of from 100 to 200 feet in width from the 

 nearest rail with a maximum of shade to intercept a 

 falling spark, to discourage vegetation on the ground and 

 to maintain soil moisture. A natural and advantageous 

 outcome of the fire line policy is the interest and activity 



of the section crews in stopping fires. If fire prevention 

 is "up to" the section boss, bad locomotive maintenance 

 and operation or no, responsibility is not divided and 

 fire is given the least possible chance to develop. Within 

 the last ten years railroad fires have dropped from over 

 50 per cent to less than 30 per cent of the total fires start- 

 ed and "big fires" from railroad operations are now ex- 

 tremely rare. 



May I see your fire permit? This question has em- 

 barrassed great numbers who were using fires for work 

 or pleasure, for New Jersey has from the first required 

 that no open fire be built in or near the woodlands 

 without a written permit from the local fire warden. But, 

 while a nuisance to the experienced camper, an annoy- 



LITTLE SURFACE FIRES MAKE TREES LIKE THESE 

 And it is a very serious matter in view of the rapidly diminish- 

 ing stands of virgin timber. 



ance to the careful picniker and sometimes almost a 

 handicap to the trustworthy farmer or settler, this restric- 

 tion has been of tremendous advantage to the State in 

 keeping fire from the woodlands. It has reduced the 

 needless use of fire, although the permits are issued free 

 and made easily available to all responsible applicants. 

 It has curtailed the careless use of fire because the person 

 whose fire is "tagged" will not take chances, as when his 

 fire is built haphazard and unknown. The foreigner, 

 the new settler, and the inexperienced camper is re- 

 strained from doing himself, his neighbors and the com- 

 munity harm by coming into touch with a word of ad- 

 vice and warning before his fire is built. The proven 

 reckless or incompetent can be denied the use of that 



