FOREST FIRES OF THE PAST MONTH 



Sixteen States Report Damage Done 

 During the Month of November 



"" HE past month has been remark- 

 able in the number of forest fires 

 at a time when the fire season is prac- 

 tically over. However, it is notice- 

 able that those reported were mostly 

 from the middle west, where drought 

 has made favorable conditions for 

 their start and spread. No large 

 amount of damage has been done in 

 any particular section, however. 



Arkansas This state probably suf- 

 fered more, and with greater loss than 

 any other state during the month just 

 ended. A serious railroad collision oc- 

 curred near Swifton, where forest 

 fires had filled the air with dense 

 smoke, along the line of the St. Louis 

 and Iron Mountain Railroad. Near 

 Eureka Springs, along the right of 

 way of the same railroad, considerable 

 damage was done to pine timber. A 

 two-months' drought helped the spread 

 of a blaze in the vicinity of Jonesboro, 

 which devastated a number of acres. 

 The whole eastern section of Arkan- 

 sas suffered more or less from numer- 

 ous small blazes, and at Paragould 

 several buildings and a large amount 

 of crops were consumed. Residents 

 of the Blue Cane country were forced 

 to fight threatening fires on November 

 18, and a timely rain on November 20 

 extinguished a fire which had been 

 burning in Crittenden County and 

 near Ouigley and Proctor for some 

 days. 



Indiana The, country near Vin- 

 cennes has been laid waste by a for- 

 est fire of considerable magnitude. A 

 number of farm buildings, residences, 

 and one store near Rockport, in Spen- 

 cer County, were destroyed by a for- 

 est fire, which started on November 

 27. Children set fire to brush near 

 Connersville, and before it could _ be 

 checked, a number of acres of tim- 

 berland were burned over. The col- 

 lege buildings at Hanover had a nar- 



row escape from destruction by a for- 

 est fire, which suddenly assumed 

 threatening proportions after smould- 

 ering for some time. Sixty acres of 

 timber were devastated by a forest fire 

 near Pendleton, in Madison County, 

 on November 19. 



Illinois Near Havana, 1000 acres 

 on the East Shore suffered damage 

 trom a forest fire on November 26, 

 and on the other side -~>f the river 

 considerable loss occurred. Sweeping 

 for seven miles a forest fire west of 

 Mossville destroyed a large acreage of 

 valuable timber, and required the unit- 

 ed efforts of the farmers in that sec- 

 tion to check its further course. On 

 November 19 a number of forest fires 

 were reported burning six miles west 

 of Anna ; and near Peoria in the Illi- 

 nois bottom lands, seven square miles 

 of land were devastated. Much valua- 

 ble pine timber was lost in a blaze west 

 of Alton Pass ; and west of Chester, 

 contiguous to Missouri, a number of 

 conflagrations were reported on No- 

 vember 19. 



Missouri A St. Louis paper esti- 

 mates that 2,000 acres of prairie and 

 timberland were burned over in a fire 

 near Chillicothe, but no great damage 

 is said to have been done to the larger 

 timber. 



Kentucky The hardwood timber of 

 the state suffered in forest fires in 

 McCracken and Marshall counties, 

 and near Paducah a number of fires 

 did considerable damage. Residents 

 of South Park were forced to set a 

 counter fire to check blazes which 

 threatened large damage. Near the 

 Harrison County line, forest fires 

 gained headway on November 23, and 

 after raging with considerable dam- 

 age, were checked a week later. Near 

 Carter, a fire burned for several d.' 

 and spread over a large territory, in- 

 flicting considerable loss. 



