216 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October^ ipij- 



The fact that due care has been ex- 

 ercised is shown by the fact that 

 onlv one per cent, of the fires 

 set cut under permit got away. In 

 every case this season such escaping 

 fires were controlled with little dam- 

 age. The permittee is responsible for 

 the control of such fires. 



Forty thousand and four acres of 

 agricultural land were burned over 

 under permit during the fire sea- 

 son of 1914, besides 5,727 acres of 

 logging slash, 7,204 acres of slash 

 along railways, and 290 miles of 

 slash along public roads. 



Times of Special Danger. 



During particularly dangerous 

 periods permits may be refused in 

 the hazardous districts until rain 

 falls. During 1914 and 1915 such 

 temporary refusal has been neces- 

 sary in various parts of the province. 



In general, however, the obtaining 

 of permits is made as easy as pos- 

 sible consistent with safety. Fre- 

 quent patrol trips on the part of the 

 forest guards, and the arrangement 

 of his trips so that his territory is 

 systematically covered, and so that 

 settlers become familiar with his 

 movements, are the chief means to 

 this end. The forest guard soon be- 

 comes familiar with land-clearing 

 operations in his patrol district, and 

 thus is able more easily to be in the 

 neighborhood when permits are 

 wanted. Also his familiarity with 

 slash which he knows the owners 

 desire to burn during the summer, 

 enables him in many cases to recom- 

 mend burning at a particular time, 

 and by giving the owner a permit at 

 such a time the area is cleaned up 

 while conditions are right. After 

 several years experience an obser- 

 vant forest guard will become expert 

 in burning slash cheaply and safely. 

 Very often he is asked for advice 

 about when to burn, or he may be 

 asked to stay while the burning is 

 done. Such assistance when it can 

 be given is never refused. 



Settlers Glad to Help. 

 In every way slash burning is 

 facilitated by the staff of guards, 

 while at the same time such burn- 

 ing is rendered quite safe. The set- 

 tlers who are in the majority of 

 cases familiar with the results of 

 bush fires through observation of 



old burns and through occasional 

 accidental fires which get away, are 

 ready to co-operate to prevent the 

 recurrence of fires. No province in 

 Canada has a better public senti- 

 ment in the matter of fire protection. 

 The permit system chiefly has been 

 instrumental in building up this 

 sentiment. The forest guards have 

 often very large districts in their 

 charge (average 500,000 acres in 

 1914), but are assisted in the work 

 of fire detection through settlers re- 

 porting fires by telephone or other- 

 wise, and even by starting fire fight- 

 ing while the fires are small and be- 

 fore the arrival of the forest officer. 

 British Columbia can properly claim 

 to have already an effective fire pro- 

 tection system, which system is im- 

 proving ech year. It is undoubted 

 that the fire permit policy is the 

 basis on which the whole system 

 rests, and is the most valuable pro- 

 vision in the fire protective chapter 

 of the Forest Act. 



Permits are the Keystone. 



It is safe to say that among the 

 settlers themselves 90 or 95 per cent, 

 support this provision, and would 

 resist its elimination. It protects 

 them from the occasional reckless 

 citizen who might otherwise care- 

 lessly cause damage. From experi- 

 ence gained in British Columbia, 

 the unqualified- statement is made 

 that unless brush burning is control- 

 led by means of permits no real fire- 

 protection is possible in a timbered 

 country. It is safe to say that in no 

 timbered region where permits have 

 been used would the people go back 

 to the old system of indiscriminate 

 and uncontrolled burning. 



