210 



REPORT OF THE 



No. 3 



The number of fires directly attributed to railways, with a total of 4,951 

 miles within the Fire Districts of the Province, was 188, or 14.8 per cent, of 

 the total number from all causes, a decrease in the percentage of 9.1 per cent, 

 over 1920, and 34.7 per cent, over 1917. This decrease is due largely to the 

 increased attention given to locomotive inspection by our staff. 



The fires of railway origin were distributed as follows: 



Railway. 



Canadian National Railway (exclusive of Northern line) 



Canadian Pacific Railway 



Canadian National Railway (Northern Transcontinental line only) 



Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway 



Algoma Eastern Railway 



Algoma Central Railway 



Grand Trunk Railway 



Per cent, of Total Number 

 of Railway Fires. 



1921 



44.7 

 29.8 

 7.9 

 10.6 

 2.8 

 1.0 

 3.2 



1920 



32.3 

 27.9 

 16.4 

 9 9 

 5.0 

 4.4 

 4.1 



100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 



1919 



24.6 



26.3 



25.9 



17.9 



0.3 



1.5 



3.5 



1918 



25.4 

 24.9 

 21.8 

 10.5 

 2.9 

 1.1 

 13.4 



Average Number of Railway Fires Per Hundred Miles of Line. 



Canadian National Railway (exclusive of Northern line) 5 ..8 



Canadian Pacific Railway 3.9 



Canadian National Railway (Northern Transcontinental line only) 1.8 



Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway 6.3 



Algoma Eastern Railway 5.9 



Algoma Central Railway , 0.6 



Grand Trunk Railway ^ 1.6 



Lightning is credited with starting 139 fires, or 11.0 per cent, of the total 

 number of all fires, a decided increase over previous years, due no doubt to the 

 occurrence of many electrical storms, which were accompanied by little or no 

 precipitation, and fires which ordinarily would have been extinguished by the 

 rain without making themselves apparent, were able this year to gain con- 

 siderable headway. Fires from this source were restricted largely to a few 

 regions, especially the Algonquin Park district, where 47 of the 139 lightning 

 fires occurred. 



A total of 749,534 acres were reported burned over, more than twice the 

 area burned over in 1920, due largely to the exceptional weather conditions 

 prevailing throughout the season. This acreage was classified as below: 



CLASSIFICATION OF BURNED-OVER AREA. 



As the table shows, the area of timber land burned over this season was 

 13.2 per cent, of the total area burned, slightly lower than the figure for last 

 year, and considerably lower than the figure for 1919. 



