734 



Canadian Forestry Journal, September, ipi6 



The Fire Season in British Columbia 



Assistant Forester. Forest 



By R- F. Benedict. 

 Branch of British Columbia^ 

 Sept. 8, 1916. 



Virtor^a. B.C., 



The late spring throug-hout Brit- 

 ish Cokimbia, retarding- the growth 

 of vegetation cover, marked an omi- 

 nous opening of the fire season. 

 These conditions were alleviated by 

 general rains during the middle of 

 May, although the northern interior 

 did not participate in this to any de- 

 gree, experiencing hot weather with 

 high winds, and only light and local 

 showers. By the end of the 

 month the situation had become 

 critical , notably in the Fort George 

 division, and to a lesser extent in the 

 Hazelton forest district, a large 

 number of fires being reported, tax- 

 ing to the utmost the forest protec- 

 tion organization in the two affected 

 districts. Much timber was de- 

 stroyed or damaged, some fifteen 

 million feet in all, and several set- 

 tlers were burnt out. 



Many outbreaks having been 

 traced to the work of incendiaries 

 and to persons violating the fire 

 law, prosecutions were set on foot 

 and penalties inflicted, while as a 

 precaution all fire permits in the 

 dangerous areas were suspended. 

 In the southern interior and in the 

 coast districts a cold, wet spring re- 

 duced the hazard to a minimuin, a 

 rich growth of vegetation acting as 

 a check upon the spread of fires, and 

 by the middle of June danger from 

 the spring fire season was over. 



Gnards on Iniprovenient IJ^ork. 



During the spring much activity 

 was shown in disposing of slash un- 

 der permit, throughout the province, 

 and a satisfactory reduction of this 

 particular class of hazard bv set- 

 tlers, logging operators, road and 

 telephone officials, was made. Not 



until August did dangerous condi- 

 tions again manifest themselves, a 

 succession of hot spells occurring, 

 fortunately with rain following, and 

 although several fires broke out in 

 the coast and southern interior dis- 

 tricts, they were easily controlled. 

 The comparatively light hazard en- 

 abled many of the guards to be 

 transferred to improvement w^ork in 

 their respective districts, cleaning 

 out and constructing trails, repair- 

 ing cabins and telephone lines, and 

 attending to work of a like charac- 

 ter. The cooler nights and heavy 

 dews experienced at the end of Au- 

 gust constituted a check upon the 

 spread of fires and caused an absence 

 of other than small outbreaks. In the 

 early part of September a large 

 number of fires in old slashings were 

 reported by the Vancouver district, 

 but these were under control, and, 

 far from doing any damage, were 

 cleaning up logged-ofif areas. 



A Favorable Season. 



Barring the rather serious out- 

 break of fires in the spring along the 

 Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, the 

 season has been a remarkably favor- 

 able one from the fire protection 

 standpoint. The reduction in the 

 number of regular long-term fire 

 wardens, rendered necessary through 

 enlistment of many members of the 

 force, and through necessity for 

 economy, was partly balanced by 

 the lessened human hazard, due to 

 the war and economic conditions, 

 and the decrease in transient popula- 

 tion. However, the long-term men 

 are only considered as a skeleton 

 force, sufficient to handle the nor- 

 mal hazard, and arrangements were 



