1925 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS 93 



(6) Equipment 



The most important equipment purchased during the season was a total 

 of fifty-six portable fire fighting units and 129,000 feet of unlined linen hose 

 for use with these units. Two old units were also replaced with new ones. 

 The total number of portable units now in use is 140 with an average of 2,000 

 feet of hose for each. 



These units have proved to be the most important single factor in combating 

 forest fires and too much cannot be said in their favour. Along with these, a 

 small hand pump was used most effectively. 



Other equipment purchased included fifty tents, three power pointers, 

 seven canoes, two railway motor cars and eleven light motor trucks. In addition, 

 one motor boat of the open cruiser type was built by the Chief Ranger at 

 Timagami for use on Lake Timagami. 



(7) Locomotive Inspection 



Two men were again employed throughout the season on the inspection of 

 fire protective appliances on locomotives operating on railways under the juris- 

 diction of the Dominion Board of Railway Commissioners, these men acting 

 under appointments as officers of the Board. 



A total of forty-eight round houses and gravel pits were visited periodically, 

 and 1,920 locomotive inspections made, covering 875 locomotives. In addition, 

 seventeen inspections were made of locomotives operated by lumber companies, 

 bringing the total number of inspections up to 1,937. The percentage of loco- 

 motives found defective and operating on lines under the jurisdiction of the 

 Board of Railway Commissioners was 1.6 per cent., a decrease from 32.1 per cent, 

 in 1918 as shown in the following table: — 



