528 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



fire protection must Ik- provided, in order to assure- :i 

 sufficient -upply of timber for local needs, permanently 

 Also, beyond any question, an act should be passed pro- 

 hibiting the setting out of clearing fires during the fire 

 season, except on permit signed by an authorized forest 

 officer. This plan is now in effect in British Columbia, 

 CHicbcc, Nova Scotia, to a limited extent in New I'.runs- 

 wick. and also in the Dominion forest reserves. Similar 

 provisions exist in a number of the states. It has proved 

 conclusively that the extreme danger resulting from the 

 unregulated burning of settlers' slash can be kept within 

 reasonable bounds. There is no reason why a similar 

 requirement should not be made effective in Ontario. A 

 strong campaign to this end is now being waged, par- 

 ticularly by the Canadian Forestry Association. Many 

 boards of trade are taking the matter up in a vigorous 

 way and all this agitation must have an effect. It is to 

 be noted that, for instance, Minnesota did not provide 

 really adequate forest fire protection until after the 

 disastrous experiences of the Chisholm and Baudette 

 fires. It is to be anticipated that history will repeat itself 

 in Ontario as well. The warning of the Porcupine fire 

 of 1911 was not heeded, but adequate action is now 

 imperative, unless the development of the Clay Belt is 

 to be retarded indefinitely, on account of the unwilling- 

 ness of present and prospective settlers to face the un- 

 necessary hazard, by fire, to life and property. 



2. The whole fire-protection service of the province 

 should be reorganized, and extended to cover vast areas 

 now left unprotected. Unlicensed and unreserved Crown 

 lands need much more attention than they have ever 

 received. This is particularly true of the Clay Belt, 

 where relatively little has been done aside from the 

 patrol immediately along the railway line. Unless this 

 action is taken, there will inevitably be periodical repeti- 

 tions of this year's disaster, until the country is swept 

 practically clear of timber. There must also be a radical 

 change in the point of view which permits small fires to 

 smoulder unattended, until they become large ones and 

 escape control. The reorganization of the service should 

 include adequate provision for competent supervision of 

 the staff, all the way from the head office down to the 

 men in the field. The present provisions in this regard 

 are far from adequate. Some one competent man must 

 be designated to give his whole time to the general super- 

 vision of this important work, and he must be given a 

 much larger staff of inspectors, in addition to an increase 

 in the ranger force. Further, the work of the rangers 

 should be facilitated by better provision for communica- 

 tion and fire-fighting. This means the construction of 

 more roads, trails, portages, telephone lines, lookout sta- 

 tions, tool caches, etc. Without this mechanical equip- 

 ment, it will l>e impossible to organize the work on a really 

 modera and up-to-date basis. A beginning in this respect 

 has been made in some of the forest reserves and parks, 

 but the situation as a whole is relatively undeveloped. 



3. Provision is badly needed for the reduction of the 

 fire hazard, through the disposal of inflammable debris in 

 certain locations. For the protection of towns and settle- 

 ments, fire breaks should be cleared around them. In 



Minnesota, under the fire break clause of the forestry 

 law relating to municipalities, the State Forest Service 

 has brought about the cleaning up of a great deal of 

 slash and brush around many villages in the northern 

 part of the State. This has usually taken the form, 

 according to the State Forester, of a cleared and plowed 

 strip, perhaps two rods wide, a quarter to a half-mile 

 from the town, on the sides threatened. The space 

 between the cleared strip and the town is, of course, 

 cleared of all slash and the brush burned, or it is cul- 

 tivated or pastured, if possible. The State Forester holds 

 the opinion, in view of the experience of Minnesota, that 

 settlements are best protected by systematic disposal of 

 slash and debris throughout the locality, with the addi- 

 tional aid of a system of roads laid out to provide neces- 

 sary cleared strips on the outskirts of the settlements. 



It goes, of course, without saying, that in connection 

 with the construction of colonization roads, full provision 

 should be made for the piling and burning, within the 

 road allowance, at a safe time, of all debris resulting from 

 road construction. For the most part, this action has 

 been taken in the Clay Belt. Only too frequently, how- 

 ever, in many parts of Canada and the United States, is 

 the road slash left piled in windrows along the roadside, 

 thus constituting a severe and unnecessary hazard, and 

 preventing the road from serving the useful purpose of 

 a fire-break in case of need. A good fire-break should 

 not only be a vantage point from which a back-fire can 

 be started, if need be, but it should also serve as an 

 avenue over which men and supplies can be transported 

 to fight fires. Roads may be made to serve the former 

 as well as the latter purpose, if proper foresight is used. 

 Railroads, ditches, tote roads and trails should also be 

 considered in the general scheme of fire protection and 

 utilized as fire-breaks wherever possible. 



State Forester Cox reports that if the work is properly 

 laid out along these lines, the cost should not be pro- 

 hibitive. He finds that one of the most effective means 

 of cutting down the number of fires in Minnesota has 

 been the completeness with which all slash along high- 

 ways, ditches and other rights of way has been cleaned 

 up. It has meant unending work on the part of the 

 rangers to bring about this condition, but, according to 

 Mr. Cox, the results have justified all the trouble taken. 

 The experience of Minnesota and of the United States 

 Forest Service in this respect will no doubt be considered 

 by the Government of Ontario, and it is hoped that suit- 

 able provision will be made, legislative and administrative, 

 for putting similar measures into effect in that province. 

 The whole question of the disposal of logging slash, 

 as a fire-preventive measure, has, as yet, hardly been 

 touched anywhere in eastern Canada. Some small experi- 

 ments have been made by different agencies, and informa- 

 tion relative to the general situation both in Canada and 

 the United States has been published. 



If the loss of probably not less than 250 lives and of 

 millions of dollars' worth of property in the recent disaster 

 shall result in the adoption of really adequate measures 

 for fire protection in Ontario in the future, the sacrifice 

 will not have been altogether in vain. 



