Canadian Forestry Journal, September, ipi6 



733 



human hands. The balance were 

 due mostly to lightning. Consider- 

 ing what this territory has suffered 

 in the past by settlers, river drivers, 

 berry pickers, etc., starting fires 

 when they pleased, and taking no 

 precautions, the showing is nothing 

 short of amazing. The cost of ex- 

 tinguishing fires has been only one- 

 sixth of what it was in 1915. The 

 reader will bear in mind, too, that 

 such a degree of protection has been 

 procured by thorough organization 

 alone, for the territorv is as much 

 subject to fire damage as most other 

 parts of Quebec. 



Real Fire Fighting. 

 In the territory of the Lower Ot- 

 tawa Forest Protective Association, 

 the season's experience has been 

 ■equally an endorsement of sound or- 

 ganization and muscular manage- 

 ment. In August, 35 fires were en- 

 countered. Dangerous as these 

 were, they were promptly reported 

 by the rangers, and a body of five 

 hundred men. composed of settlers 

 and lumber companies' employees. 



were set to work in small detach- 

 ments. They succeeded in isolat- 

 ing each fire, thereby preventing an 

 amalgamation of fires, and eventual- 

 ly put out all of them. This in- 

 volved, of course, a heavier account 

 for fire fighting than in 1915, but the 

 fact of first importance is that a 

 negligible amount of green timber 

 was burned. As on the St. Maurice 

 limits, most of the trouble came 

 from lightning, an abnormal condi- 

 tion due to excessively dry weather 

 and a multitude of storms. 



Some highly destructive fires are 

 reported by licensees in the Black 

 River and Kippewa district of Que- 

 bec. Some of the finest pine in 

 Canada has been cleaned out, and 

 companies are rushing in camps to 

 salvage whatever is possible. 



Ontario, outside the Claybelt sec- 

 tion, has enjoyed comparative im- 

 munity from fire losses this year, 

 and it is doubtful if the total timber 

 damage in the more southerly terri- 

 tory will be any heavier than in 

 1915. a very light fire year. 



Fires in the Prairie Provinces 



The fire situation in the provinces 

 of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta 

 and in the Railway Belt of British 

 Columbia has on the whole been. ex- 

 ceptionally good throughout 1916. 

 Wet weather has in nearly all re- 

 gions prevailed throughout the sea- 

 son, at least up to the end of July. 

 The regular reports do not cover 

 any time later than the end of July, 

 but no word has been received of 

 any serious fire situation occurring 

 in any region during August. The 

 only exception to the above state- 

 ment has been the district in the 

 vicinity of the Pas, Manitoba, and 

 along the Hudson Bay Railway, 

 where it was rather dry during the 

 middle of the summer, and a num- 



ber of fires occurred. It has also 

 been dry along the route of the E. D. 

 & B. C. Railway in the vicinity of 

 Lesser Slave Lake and Fort Mc- 

 Murray. There are indications also 

 that unfavorable weather conditions 

 obtained in August in parts of Brit- 

 ish Columbia, but detailed reports 

 have not been received. On the 

 whole the damage due to forest fires 

 in the territory under the jurisdic- 

 tion of the Dominion Forestry 

 Branch has been much less this sea- 

 son to date than in any recent year. 

 The wet weather has promoted a 

 very heavy growth of grass and 

 vegetation, and when this becomes 

 dry in the fall, an absence of rain at 

 that time might make the fire situa- 

 tion serious. 



