FOREST FIRES AND THEIR PREVENTION 



By J. S. Holmes. 



IMBODICTIOX. 



During 1909 the United States forest Service attempted to collect 

 uniform data on the prevalence and destructiveness of forest fires iu all 

 the various States. The !N"orth Carolina Geological and Economic Sur- 

 vey co-operated with the Forest Service in this work in this State, and 

 got together some very interesting figures. Though admittedly incom- 

 plete, these "were published by the State Survey in Economic Paper Xo. 

 19, "Forest Fires in Xorth Carolina During 1909." This publication 

 has been scattered widely through the State, and is still available for 

 distribution. It should be read in connection with the present report 

 in order to best understand the application of the figures and to obtain 

 much information which it was thought best not to repeat. 



Owing to the failure of many of the States to obtain sufficient reliable 

 information, the general fire study of the Forest Service, which was in- 

 tended to be annual and permanent, has been discontinued. The Xorth 

 Carolina Geological and Economic Survey then had to decide as to 

 the advisability of continuing the collection of these figures unaided. 

 Though the data collected last year was far from satisfactory, still it 

 was thought that the economic and educational value of such figures 

 was great enough to warrant the expense of collecting them. With the 

 hope, therefore, of increasing their accuracy and broadening their 

 influence, the Survey determined to continue the collection of this infor- 

 mation in regard to the annual destruction by forest fires. 



Accordingly, as soon as the year closed, question blanks were sent 

 out to about eight hundred correspondents in all parts of the State, 

 together with a stamped envelope for reply. These forms contained the 

 same questions that were asked last year, but, in order to make the 

 replies more definite and accurate, the correspondents were asked to 

 confine their figures to one or more specified townships, and not try to 

 estimate for the whole county. This method has succeeded much better 

 even than was expected. Xo correspondent attempted to answer for 

 more than one or at the most, two townships, and, as a consequence, the 

 figures included in this report, though attempting to represent an even 

 smaller part of the State than last year, are, it is thought, considerably 

 more accurate. Still it must not be forgotten that all figures given are 



