Canadian Forestry Journal, April, 1918 1645 



Scientific Fire Fighting on St. Maurice 



The St. Maurice Forest Protective 

 Association, the pioneer of the Can- 

 adian Associations, had an unusually 

 successful year in 1917, the Annual 

 Report of which rebounds to the 

 credit of President Ellwood Wilsun, 

 Manager H. Sorgius and Directors 

 Robert F. Grant, A. Laurence De 

 Carteret, J. M. Dalton, Charles 

 Lebrun and J. H. Dansereau. 



Mention is made that the 1917 

 season, while in the main we had 

 enough dry weather to be dangerous, 

 and more than the average number 

 of fires. I think the reduction in 

 the cost of extinguishing fires by 

 extra labor is a good index of the 

 efficiency of our organization. This 

 cost was 313,004.00 in 1914, $7,329.00 

 in 19 15, $2,759.00 in 19 16, 

 and $1,011.00 during the season 

 just passed. That is, the cost has 

 been cut in two each year progres- 

 sively, and we hope that this cost 

 will not increase in the future. It 

 shows that the rangers, who are 

 the backbone of our organization, 

 have been right on their jobs, and 

 have not had to call for much 

 help. 



"The amount of money expended 

 per acre has not increased, in spite 

 of the increase in the cost of labor 

 and equipment, and we have added 

 to our equipment and kept it iu 

 good repair. We are doing the patrol- 

 ling cheaper than any other protec- 

 tive agency in Canada. 



"We have increased our capital 

 account by new speeder sheds and 

 by the purchase of a storehouse and 

 boarding house of our own at La 

 Tuque, which saves us rent and 

 makes accommodation for our men 

 and equipment very much better. 



"In this connection I might men- 

 tion that the appearance of the 

 country is rapidly changing since 

 fires have been reduced and the 

 young growth has had an oppor- 



tunity to start. I have estimated 

 that the growth average, per acre, 

 over the whole of our territory, 

 is at the very least ten cents per 

 acre per annum, so that the small 

 expenditure of 1-3 of a cent per 

 acre is well worth while. 



Over 9 Million Acres 



The area patrolled was 8,0-49,- 

 645 acres, to which must be added 

 1,000,000 acres of Government lands 

 not under license and lots taken 

 out by settlers, also 229,800 acres 

 which we patrolled for The Laur- 

 entian Forest Protective Association. 



The net cost of operating amounts 

 to $24,987.12, which is equal to 

 less than one-third of a cent per 

 acre. 



It is gratifying to note that the 

 cost of fire fighting during the past 

 season was only 37% )f that of 

 season 1916, and 7% of that of 

 season 1914. 



According to the reports of our 

 Inspectors and Rangers 217 fires 

 occurred during the season, of which 

 15 required extra labor to extinguish, 

 burning over an area of 4,341 acres; 

 of these 287 acres were green standing 

 timber, 216 3^^ acres young growth 

 not yet merchantable, 2,373^ acres 

 cut over land and 1,564 14 acres 

 old burn. The amount spent in 

 fighting fire was $1,011.75, of which 

 the 



Causes of Fires 



Settlers 4 



Drivers 5 



Railways 122 



Unknown 38 



La Loutre Dam Construction 26 



Sectionmen 1 



Fishermen 8 



Construction Crews... 8 



Jobber 2 



Total 217 



