60 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



be found or a considerable number refuse to serve. A description of each 

 district and the name of the fire warden thereof are to be recorded with 

 the forest commissioner and the town clerk or similar officer. 



Sec. 5. Provides for employment of special fire patrols in unorganized 

 places in any county and during dangerous seasons, especially in lumbering 

 districts, and for cooperation of forest owners. Wherever unorganized 

 places exist in a county or so far distant from settlements as to make dis- 

 covery of fires and speedy arrival of regular fire wardens impossible, or 

 wherever the forest owners whose property is specially endangered require, 

 the forest commissioner may annually appoint special fire patrols, to be 

 paid at daily rates, the owner paying one-half the expense and the state 

 the other half, such patrols to be under the regulations of this law, and to 

 report to the nearest fire wardens. The manner of appointment and the 

 matter of compensation and duties are to be formulated by the forest com- 

 missioner. 



Sec. 6. Defines the powers and duties of fire wardens; to take measures 

 necessary for the control and extinction of fires; to post notices of regula- 

 tions provided in this law and furnished by the forest commissioner; to 

 ascertain the causes of fires and prepare evidence in case of suits; to report 

 each fire at once to the forest commissioner on blanks furnished, giving 

 area burned over, damage, owner, probable origin, measures adopted, and 

 cost of extinguishing; to have authority to call upon any persons in their 

 district for assistance, such persons to receive compensation, as determined 

 by the selectmen or county commissioners, at the rate of not to exceed 

 fifteen cents per hour, and to be paid by the town or county upon certifica- 

 tion by the forest commissioner. 



Persons refusing, when not excused, to assist, or to comply with orders, 

 shall forfeit the sum of $10, the same to be recovered in an action for debt in 

 the name and to the use of the town or county, or for the fire protection 

 fund. 



Fire wardens shall be paid $10 a year as a retainer, besides days' wages 

 at the same rates as sheriffs or similar officers for as many days as they are 

 actually on duty, and shall be responsible for prompt extinction of fires and 

 be amenable to law for neglect of duty. The district fire warden shall call 

 on the town fire warden in case of inability to control fires, and the town 

 fire warden shall have sheriff's power to enlist assistance, as provided in 

 case of a mob. 



FIRE INDEMNITY FUND. 



Sec. 7. Provides for the creation of a fire indemnity fund, each county to 

 pay into the state treasury $1 for each acre burnt over each year, the 

 special fund so constituted to be applied in the maintenance of the system 

 provided by this act and for the payment of damages to those whose forest 

 property has been burned without neglect on their own part or on that of 

 their agents. 



The burned areas shall be ascertained by the county surveyor and shall 

 be checked from the reports of fire wardens by the forest commissioner. 

 All fines collected under the provisions of this law shall also accrue to the 

 fire fund. 



