FOREST FIRES IX XORTH CAROLIXA. 



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T.VBLE 6.— FOREST FIRES IX NORTH CAROLINA DURING 1914. COMPARATIVE STATE- 

 MENT OF AVERAGES BV REGIONS FOR 1914 AND FOR SIX YEARS. 



Piedmont. Coast.vl Plain. 



I i ' 



lAverage Average Averaee! |Average 



1914. for Six 1914. for SLx 1914. for Six I 1914. j for Six 



Years. | Years. i Years. I . Years. 



Percentage of townships reporting... 51 



Average area of each fire, in acres. .. 448 



Average damage by each fire SI, 209 



Average area burnt over per town- i 



ship reporting, in acres I 896 



Average damage per acre burnt $ 2 . 70 



Average damage per township re- 

 porting _ -52,417 I S3, 



41 52 , 43 j 



898 305 447 j 



$1,412 $ 491 $ 729 I $1, 



*1,649 

 $ 1 .50 



S 1.62 S 1.65 S 1.87 



S 1,C 



S 411 S 861 -52,297 , $1,565 , $1,335 $ 1,657 



*No township figures for 1909. 



-CAUSES OF FOREST FIRES IN NORTH CAROLINA IN 1914 BY REGIONS, 

 COMPARED WITH SIX YEARS, IN PERCENTAGES. 



Moun- Pied- Coastal 

 tain. mont. Plain. 



Average 

 for Six 

 Years. 



Farmers burning brush, grass, rubbish, etc 



Hunters 



Cigars, cigarettes, matches, etc 



Carelessness 



Railroad locomotives, sparks from 



Logging locomotives, dummy engines, etc 



Sawmills, etc 



Traction engines 



Accidental, caught from burning building, etc. 



To improve the range. 



Set by chestnut gatherers, root diggers, etc 



Without object, "to see it burn" 



Malice or incendiary 



Unknown causes 



Lightning 



Loafers, trespassers, etc 



Campers 



Tar kilns 



The foregoing tables show a total reported damage from forest fires 

 in 1914 of $600,000, half of which occurred in the coastal plain counties. 

 This is slightly less than the average loss for the past six years, though 

 very near the average in most particulars. 



The most encouraging feature is the reduction of 25 per cent in the 



reported area burnt over, and this in spite of the fact that there were 



more than the average number of fires. This Avould indicate that more 



general efforts are being made to extinguish fires after they have started ; 



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