1722 



Canadian Forest ri; Journal, Jane, 1918 



wick and Anderson stations and near 

 Ilazen, Grimmer and Stewart Settle- 

 ments, In the event of a big forest 

 fire in that section there would be 

 loss of human life without much doubt 

 and destruction of large areas of the 

 most valuable timber land in the 

 province. 



The New Brunswick fires came as a 

 surprise to those who were aware that 

 the weather in New Brunswick this 

 season had been anything but favor- 

 able to forest fires; in fact until the 

 outbreak mentioned above only a few 

 trifling fires had been reported. The 

 Department of Lands and Mines is 

 sending out numerous placards warn- 

 ing fisherman, hunters, lumbermen 

 and others having occasion to go 

 into the woods, to be careful in light- 

 ing and in extinguishing camp tires, 

 and in the use of matches. These 

 placards are being posted in con- 

 spicuous places in the woods by fire 

 wardens, game wardens and others. 

 Other fire preventive measures will 

 ])e adopted as soon as the new 

 regulations passed at the last session 

 of the legislature are brought into 

 effect. 



Campers Caused These Losses. 



According to the Department of 

 Lands and Mines three of the fires 

 which have caused most anxiety this 

 year were traced defiintely to unextin- 

 guished camp fires. For example, 

 a fire near Eel River, York County, 

 was started by people who had gone 

 into the country for a Sunday picnic 

 and had lighted a fire for their mid- 

 day meal. They packed camp with- 

 out taking the precaution to put out 

 the fire with the result of a very 

 heavy loss to the public treasury. 

 Two other fires in succession were 

 reported as being due to exactly the 

 same cause. 



The trouble experienced in New 

 Brunswick this year cannot be re- 

 garded as olTering any comment upon 

 the efficiency of the new Forest 

 Service. The organization remains 

 practically the same as last year inas- 

 much as the Act creating the Forest 

 Service and arranging for the im- 

 provement in its machiner\' and 

 jieisonnel went into efiect only re- 



cently and the administrative com- 

 mission has just held its first 

 meeting. 



According to the Pulp and Paper 

 Magazine a forest fire on the Picauga 

 River near Chicoutirr^i, Quebec, com- 

 municated itself to the provision 

 stores of Price Bros., Limited, caus- 

 ing a loss of 825,000. A despatch 

 from St. Johns, Nfld., declares that a 

 fierce forest fire broke out at Gambo 

 on May 22nd, destroying a consider- 

 able amount of growing timber. 

 Fishermen and Pioneers 



Fredericton, June 9. — -Fishermen 

 and picnicers are assigned by the 

 Department of Lands and Mines as 

 the cause of the fires which have done 

 considerable damage in the forests of 

 New Brunswick already this season. 

 The greatest damage and the largest 

 number of fires, accurred this week 

 and followed directly after June 3, 

 the King's birthday, which was ob- 

 served generally as a holiday. In 

 several cases fires were traced directly 

 to fires started by pleasure parties for 

 the preparation of food and imper- 

 fectlv extinguished or not put out at 

 all. " 



In practically all cases of fires 

 starting in the woods they have been 

 caused by inexperienced persons. In 

 no cases have men whose business 

 takes them into the- forests started 

 fires in the woods which have damaged 

 standing timber. There is less ex- 

 cuse for pleasure parties causing fires 

 this year than ever before, for press 

 notices and slides at the picture 

 houses and posted notices have warn- 

 ed most persons of the danger of 

 forest fires. 



CREDIT TO THE COMMISSION 



Some recent descriptions of the 

 establishment of the Forest Products 

 Laboratories at Vancouver, to be 

 engaged in the solution of the special 

 problems relating to British Colum- 

 bia woods, have unintentionally omit- 

 ted the important fact that the 

 agitation for these laboratories was 

 instituted by the Commission of Con- 

 servation which has shown great en- 

 ergy in promoting the idea through 

 alt its stages. 



