DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS FOR 1929 



97 



(4) Fires 



Unlike that of the five preceding years the hazard during the summer of 

 1929 was the worst in our experience. With the exception of the Clay Belt, 

 where conditions were perhaps subnormal, every district in the Province was 

 faced with abnormal conditions. 



The most westerly part of the Province experienced extreme conditions 

 with the severity lessening eastwards. The western part of the Kenora District 

 had a total precipitation of 13.58 inches between the first of January and the 

 end of October as compared with 27.51 inches for the same period the year 

 previous. From May until the end of the first week in October the danger of 

 fire in this district was the greatest ever known and because of the drought, high 

 temperatures and strong winds fire-fighting was a continuous and heart-breaking 

 task. Fires which ordinarily could be extinguished in a short time burned 

 underground for days and weeks, necessitating constant patrol and at times 

 breaking away in the high winds. 



The large number of fires in the district, and the necessity of keeping men 

 and equipment on some of these for weeks in order to prevent them breaking 

 away again soon used up the available supply of key men and equipment in 

 that territory. It was necessary therefore to make transfers from the less 

 hazardous districts in the east, but even, this did not prove sufficient as the 

 supply from the east was limited by the gradually increasing hazard there. 



From the middle of August to the tenth of September conditions over the 

 greater part of the Province were bad and the entire organization was taxed 

 to the utmost. Every available piece of fire fighting equipment was in use and 

 every key man on the staff was on duty almost twenty-four hours a day. 



The season of 1929 supersedes that of 1923 as a bad fire year in every respect 

 but the area burned. The coming season however may probably be even worse 

 as in many districts the ground is dried out to a considerable depth and there is 

 little water in the lakes or rivers and the swamps are mostly dry. 



While the past season was bad it was not without its good features. It 

 proved beyond a doubt that fires can be controlled under most adverse conditions. 

 The efifect of this upon the morale of the organization will be immeasurable. 

 It also brought to light the vulnerable spots in the present system and will have 

 a far-reaching effect in the strengthening of these. 



While the number of fires is the second largest on record, 1,550, the area 

 burned over in the territory under protection was kept down to 625,643 acres. 

 This compares most favourably with other years of lower hazard particularly in 

 view of the fact that the area under protection has been increased during the 

 last four years by the addition of some twenty-five million acres north of the. 

 transcontinental line of the Canadian National Railways. This additional 

 territory includes the Red Lake, Pickle Lake, Bee Lake and other mining areas 

 and accounts for approximately fifty per cent, of the total area burned. 



In the vast territory between the Berens River and Trout Lake large fires 

 are known to have occurred but they were beyond the reach of our present 

 organization and no attempt was made to control them. 



Of the total area burned 580,989 acres or ninety-three per cent, was west of 

 Lake Nipigon. This is a territory of vast distances, scattered population and 

 little means of communication and transportation. Fires are therefore much 

 more difficult to control than in the eastern and more settled areas where they 

 can make little headway before being seen. 



4 L.F. 



