STATE FOREST FIRE PROTECTION 



BY E. C. HIRST, STATE FORESTER OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 



THE growing interest in forestry has, during the 

 past decade, found its greatest expression in the 

 establishment of forestry departments by the 

 States. There are now in thirty-two states organized de- 

 partments carrying on forestry work. A few of these 

 have only made a beginning by establishing an office 

 in charge of one man, but at least twenty may be said 

 to have well developed departments with highly special- 

 ized branches. In general, the work carried on by 

 State forestry organizations provides for forest fire pro- 

 tection; reforestation of waste and cut-over land; ac- 

 quisition and management of State forests, and for edu- 

 cational work among woodland owners. 



The work of fire protection is, and will be for many 

 years, the most important duty of State forestry depart- 

 ments. While a very few states have considerable areas 

 of State forest land to protect, the largest work is the 

 protection of privately owned forests. In this respect 

 the work of the States must differ in methods and policy 

 from the protection work of the Forest Service on the 

 National Forests. 



Since 1911, the fire protective feature of the Weeks 

 Act has been a great spur to the States in the devel- 

 opment of fire organizations, and in securing the legal 

 and financial backing therefor. The present typical 

 State forest fire organization comprises a commission 

 or board, either named or appointed, acting in an ad- 

 visory capacity in shaping the general policy ; a State 

 Forester, or Forest Commissioner, appointed by the 

 above board and having direct administrative authority ; 

 a State forest fire warden appointed by the State Forester 

 and having special charge of the fire organization ; dis- 

 trict chiefs having charge of all fire wardens, lookout 

 watchmen, patrolmen, and of the enforcement of the 

 fire laws in their respective districts, and the fire force 

 composed of local wardens and deputies, lookout watch- 

 men, patrolmen, employees of railroads and other co- 

 operating companies and State departments. 



A forest fire organization substantially as outlined 

 is now an accomplished fact in about twenty states, and 

 the nucleus of such an organization has already been 

 started in twelve other states. With the encouragement 

 offered to the states by the fire co-operative features of 

 the Weeks Act, it seems safe to predict that within the 

 next decade, practically all of the important timber states 

 will be thus equipped. 



The question then that should interest foresters and 

 woodland owners is this: granting that all the states, 

 or any group of states embracing one forest region, 

 are equipped with an effective forest fire organization, 

 can we look forward to a time when forest fires will be 

 one of the minor considerations in our work and when 

 more of our efforts can be given to silviculture and 

 forest management? 



For an answer we must go back to the fundamental 



question of the causes of forest fires and the possibility 

 of the removal of these causes. Broadly speaking, there 

 are two classes of direct causes and one contributing 

 cause. The direct causes of forest fires are: first, me- 

 chanical or preventable causes; second, human or re- 

 ducible causes. The mechanical causes are railroad 

 locomotives, portable steam mills, and other mechanical 

 equipment operated in forest regions. The human 

 causes are due mainly to carelessness, and in a few in- 

 stances to maliciousness. Most of the fires due to care- 

 lessness are started by smokers throwing down lighted 

 matches, cigars, or cigarettes ; by burning brush in dry 

 windy weather and without sufficient help ; and by hun- 

 ters, fishermen and campers. The only direct cause fall- 

 ing outside of these two classes is lightning. Besides 

 the direct causes there is the great contributing cause 

 of inflammable slash and debris left after lumbering 

 operations. For a satisfactory answer to our question, 

 we must find a practical way to remove or reduce all 

 these causes. 



The greatest mechanical cause of forest fires is the 

 operation of railroad locomotives through woodland re- 

 gions. Fires caused by portable steam mills and other 

 engines are negligible as compared to the total. 



The best results have been obtained where the enforce- 

 ment of railroad fire laws is vested in the State Forestry 

 Departments. In 1915, a monograph prepared by Mr. 

 Philip T. Coolidge covered very thoroughly the uni- 

 formity of forest fire legislation affecting railroads in 

 the eastern and northern states. In the typical effective 

 state law, the railroads are held liable for fire damage 

 and the cost of extinguishing fires which they originate. 

 They are required to use spark arresters and ash pans. 

 subject to the approval of a Public Service Commission 

 or similar State board, and are required to instruct their 

 employees in the notification and fighting of fires. In 

 the more advanced states, the railroads are given the 

 right to clear inflammable material on woodland ad- 

 jacent to the right of way at their own expense. One of 

 the first steps to be taken in the further reduction of 

 railroad fire damage should be to iron out the irregu- 

 larities in the requirements of different states as to rail- 

 road fire protection. To do this, forest and railroad offi- 

 cials in each forest region should collaborate, probably 

 through some central medium, and this seems to me 

 best furnished by the Forest Service officials in charge 

 of the administration of the Weeks Act. Through such 

 collaboration ; through the improvement of railroad fire 

 fighting, and through prevention by patrols, fire lines, 

 improved spark arresters, and the extension of all these 

 precautions to all forest regions, railroad fire damage 

 may be reduced to such a minimum that locomotives 

 may be justifiably classed as a preventable cause. 



The human causes of forest fires are carelessness and 

 maliciousness or incendiarism. The latter cause is much 



