1730 



Canadian Forestry Journal, June, 1918 



The Status of Railway Fire Protection 



in Canada 



Bv Clyde Li:avitt 



Chief Forester, Commission of Conservation, and Chief Fire Inspector, 



Hailwai) Commission. 



From the viewpoint of fire pro- 

 tection, the steam railways of Canada, 

 aggregating about 38,024 miles, may 

 be classified under three general 

 heads, according to their legal 

 status : 



1. Lines subject to the jurisdic- 

 tion of the Board of Railway Com- 

 missioners for Canada. 



2. The Government Railways 

 System. 



3. Provincially chartered rail- 

 ways. 



Lines Sul)ject to the Board 

 The first class, comprising lines 

 subject to the Railway Commission, 

 totals some 32,389 miles, or nearly 

 84 per cent of the total. These are 

 primarily lines which hold their char- 

 ters from the Dominion Government 

 or have been declared works for the 

 general advantage of Canada. In- 

 cluded in this class are such com- 

 panies or systems as the Canadian 

 Pacific, Canadian Northern, Grand 

 Trunk, Grand Trunk Pacific, Great 

 Northern, Kettle \'alley, Algoma 

 Central and Hudson Bay, Atlantic, 

 Quebec and Western, Quebec Orient- 

 al, Dominion Atlantic, Edmonton, 

 Dunvegan and British Columbia, 

 Esquimau and Nanaimo, Halifax 

 and South Western, Temiscouata, 

 and a number of smaller lines too 

 numerous to mention here.+ 



The Canadian Northern System 

 retains its status as a corporation, 

 and remains subject to the juris- 

 diction of the Railway Commission, 

 notwithstanding that the ownership 



tFor complete list of these and 

 other lines, revised to 1914, see 

 Forest Protection in Canada, 1913- 

 1914, pp. 10-15, published by the 

 Commission of Conservation. 



of its stock has been acquired by the 

 Dominion Go\'ernment. Thus, it is 

 on an entirely different basis from 

 the Canadian Government Railways 

 proper. 



The requirements of the Board 

 relative to fire protection, applicable 

 to lines under its jurisdiction, are 

 briefly as follows: 



(a) Rights of way must be Main- 

 tained free from all unneceeeary 

 combustible matter. 



(b) Efficient spark arresters and 

 other fire-protective appliances must 

 be maintained on all coal-buming 

 locomotives. 



(c) The dumping of fire, five 

 coals and ashes upon the right of 

 way is prohibited, unless e^^tin- 

 guished immediately. 



(d) The use of lignite as 1<K"o- 

 motive fuel is prohibited, on account 

 of fire danger from sparks. 



(e) In prairie sections, the Chief 

 Fire Inspector prescribes the plow- 

 ing of fire guards. 



(f) Officers of the Fire Inspection 

 Department are authorized to pro- 

 hibit the burning of debris upon the 

 right of way during exceptionally 

 dry periods. 



(g) The Chief Fire Inspector is 

 authorized to prescribe the estab- 

 lishment of special fire patrols by 

 railway companies through forest 

 sections. 



(h) Railway companies are re- 

 quired to instruct sectionmen, agents, 

 contractors, trainmen, and other reg- 

 ular employees, relative to the re- 

 porting and extinguishing of fires 

 burning upon or near the right of 

 of way. The company is made re- 

 sponsible for the extinguishing of all 

 fires occurring within 300 feet of 

 the track, unless proof shall be fur- 



