FOREST FIRES CONTROLLED 



D 



URING 1913 the forces on the 

 national forests fought 4,520 

 fires, or nearly twice as many 

 as started in 1912, the best 

 year the forests have ever had. 



Notwithstanding the great increase 

 in the number of fires, Forester Graves 

 considers that the showing made by the 

 Forest Service was quite as favorable as 

 that in the preceding year, because 

 the damage done and the costs of fire 

 fighting were no greater proportionately 

 than in 1912. In both years practically 

 50 per cent of all fires were detected 

 and extinguished before they burned 

 over a quarter of an acre, and 25 per 

 cent of both years' fires were put out 

 before they covered 10 acres. Of last 

 year's fires, 3,278, or considerably more 

 than the whole number of fires in 1912, 

 were confined to areas of less than 10 

 acres, and in 1,080 additional fires less 

 than $100 damage was done by each. 

 In only 25 fires did the damage amount 

 to $1,000. 



The aggregate loss in timber is 

 estimated at nearly 59 million board 

 feet, valued at about $82,000, and the 

 damage to young growth and forage is 

 estimated at about $110,000, making a 

 total of about $192,000. About 18 per 

 cent of this loss, however, was incurred 

 on private lands within the forests 

 where 16 per cent of the fires had their 

 origin. 



One encouraging feature is that the 

 total number of fires set by railroad 

 locomotives was scarcely more than in 

 the preceding year and represented only 

 12 per cent of all fires, as against nearly 

 19 per cent in 1912; also the proportion 

 set by sawmills and other engines in the 

 woods was considerably less than in 

 1912. This indicates very plainly, Mr. 

 Graves says, that the public is awaken- 

 ing to the need of spark arresters and 

 care with engines in the woods. 



CAUSES OF INCREASE IN FIRES. 



Looking for the reason of the increase 

 in number of fires, the forester finds 

 three main causes: 



226 



First of all, the unprecedented electric 

 storms which swept the whole state of 

 California at the end of a long dry 

 season and set, almost simultaneously, 

 about 700 fires. The 804 fires set by 

 lightning in California formed nearly 

 50 per cent of the 1,628 fires on the 

 national forests of the State from all 

 causes, and were more than half of the 

 1,571 lightning-set fires in all the 21 

 states reporting. 



In the second place, there were 757 

 fires which started outside the forests, 

 of which 644 were stopped by the Gov- 

 ernment's fire fighters before they 

 reached the forest boundaries, as against 

 424 which started on outside areas in 

 1912. However, the proportion of such 

 fires to all those which the service 

 battled with was about the same for 

 1912 and 1913. 



The other increased cause of fires was 

 incendiarism, but this increase was con- 

 fined to three States, Arkansas, Cali- 

 fornia, and Oregon, all others showing 

 a marked decrease. Of the 452 incend- 

 iary fires, 128 were in Arkansas, 133 in 

 California and 142 in Oregon, where 

 two brothers were known to have set 72 

 on one forest alone. These two and 

 other incendiaries were, of course, 

 severely dealt with by the law. On the 

 Arkansas forest, too, it has been assumed 

 that the 351 fires classed under the 

 general heading of "origin unknown" 

 were mainly incendiary. In California 

 the incendiary fires are largely attribu- 

 table to what is known as the "light- 

 burning theory," which advances the 

 argument that forests should be burned 

 over frequently to prevent the accum- 

 ulation of debris. The Forest Service 

 considers this a pernicious theory be- 

 cause it scars the standing timber and 

 thus reduces its value ; it robs the forest 

 soil of its ability to retain moist ure, and 

 effectually prevents the reproduction of 

 the forest, since such fires destroy all 

 tree seedlings before they have a chance 

 to get a good start. 



LIGHTNING CAUSED MOST FIRES. 



In 1912, lightning caused more fires 



