Canadian Fureslri] JournaL Augusl, JUL 



1245 



Damaging Fires Sweep Sections of 



The West 



Dry Weather Created Hazardous Condition, 

 Resulting in Heavy Loss. 



The forest fires in Western Alberta 

 and British Columbia during the last 

 two weeks of July resulted in loss 

 which, with all accounts in, wiW prove 

 to be substantial. At least eleven 

 lives were sacrificed in the Spruce 

 River Valley lire, many camps swei)t 

 clean, and much timber turned to 

 charcoal. Estimates as 'o exact loss 

 will not be available for some weeks. 

 It will be interesting to learn how far 

 standing timber and young growth 

 have been affected, for in the exceed- 

 ingly hot weaiher — some districts 

 without a drop of rain for more than 

 thirty days — the fighting of fires, 

 once given a good staii, was difficult 

 in the extreme, and valuable areas 

 of timber and of protective growth 

 on the watersheds must have been 

 destroyed. 



Of even greater interest and imx- 

 pcrtance will be ihe reports upon the 

 causes of the fires. Unofficially the 

 Spruce River Valley fire is said to 

 have started in a tent and to have 

 been helped greatly by the presence 

 of logging slash. Again, in the offi- 

 cial report on the Crows Nest Pass 

 fires which cost a large sum on the 

 part of the Dominion Forestry Branch 

 for fire fighting alone the claim is 

 m-ade that a pile of debris on the 

 Peter McLaren Company's mill prop- 

 erly was the origin of the trouble. 

 If -he Western fires result in an 

 official statement throwing some light 

 on preventible causes, the means of 

 forestalling a repetition of the dis- 

 aster will not be wholly lacking. 



Recalled Days of 1914 

 British Columbia's experience has 

 been the most alarming since he 

 memorable midsummer of 1914. The 

 following report from Victoria, B.C. 

 under date of July 2.3rd indica ed 

 the grave Fituation existing at ihat 

 t im.e : 



"From nearlv everv section of the 



province this morning reports have 

 reached the provincial lands depart- 

 ment indicating that the lire situa- 

 tion is serious. Hot, dry weather 

 with a considerable amount of warm 

 breeze is making it extremely difficult 

 for the various gangs of fire fighters 

 to work with success. 



"Previous to the beginning of July 

 in 1914 there was very little trouble. 

 Then, however despite the fact that 

 more men were available for patrol 

 duty, for two months there were a 

 large number of outbreaks in many 

 sections. 



"Reports to hand this morning 

 from Cranbrook 'a e that no fewer 

 than fifteen fires are burning in that 

 district. Vegetation is reported to 

 have been completely dried out while 

 the weather is the hottest on record. 



''A ready this season in the Fort 

 George district forty-two fires have 

 been reported and the present outlook 

 is ex' remely serious. A large fire out 

 of control is raging near Ran Shus- 

 wap in the Tete Jaune Cache district. 

 In the Windermere district of Bugaoo 

 as well as on the Kootenay and Bu 

 Rivers many patrol men are on duty 

 with still a number o fires as yet not 

 under control. The condition of the 

 vegetation in the locality of Prince 

 Rupert has been helpful in checking 

 fire progress and both there and at 

 Kamloops the damage has been of an 

 extremely light nature. 



"Hot, dry and windy is the itele- 

 graphic report from Nelson this morn- 

 ing, with thirty fires burning. Chris- 

 tianson s mill at Boundary Falls was 

 entirely consumed by the flames on 

 Saturday. Ninety men are fighting 

 against difficulties at Sproule Creek; 

 the fire is now beyond control and is 

 sweeping with alarming rapidity up 

 the north arm of the creek. 

 Country Over Dry 



"A large fire near Long Lake, in the 



