Forest Protection in Canada 



1912 

 Part I. Protection from Railway Fires 



FROM the beginning of railway legislation in Canada, it 

 has been recognized that the operation of coal-burning 

 locomotives is a source of fire danger to adjacent prop- 

 erty interests. The original Railway Act of 1903 con- 

 tained definite recognition of the principle that railway 

 companies must themselves bear the burden of protecting the public 

 against fire loss due to railway operation. The extension of the applica- 

 tion of this principle has been gradual but steady, until at the present 

 time the provisions of the Railway Act and of the Regulations issued 

 tmder them comprise the most extensive and the most efficient provis- 

 ions to be found on this continent for the prevention and control of 

 railway fires by the railways themselves. 



The provisions of the Railway Act which specifically relate to the 

 fire question are as follows: — 



Extracts from the Railway Act of Canada and Amendments 

 Thereto Relating to Fire Protection 



Sec. 30 The Board may make orders and regulations : — 



Railway Act, (/) With respect to the use on any engine of 



(Chap. 37, nettings, screens, grates and other devices, and 



R.S. 1906.) ^j^g ^gg Qj^ g^j^y gnginc or car of any appliances 



and precautions, and generally in connection with the railway, 

 respecting the construction, use and maintenance of any fire- 

 guard or works which may be deemed by the Board necessary and 

 most suitable to prevent, as far as possible, fires from being started, 

 or occurrir ', upon, along, or near the right of way of the railway, 

 (Amendment, ^^^ ^^Y require the company to establish and 



by Sec. 2, ' maintain an efficient and competent staff of 

 Chap. 22, fire-rangers, equipped with such appliances for 



R.S. 1911.) fighting, or preventing fires from spreading, as 



the Board may deem proper, and to provide such rangers with 

 proper and suitable equipment to enable them to move from place 

 to place along the line of railway with all due speed. The Board 

 may require the company to maintain an efficient patrol of the line 

 of railway and other lands in the vicinity thereof, to which fires 

 may spread, and generally define the duties of the company, and 

 the said fire-rangers, in respect thereof. The Board may require 

 the company to make returns of the names of fire-rangers in its 

 employ in the performance of the above duties, and at the places 

 or areas in which they are from time to time engaged. For the 

 purpose of fighting and extinguishing fires, the said fire-rangers 

 may follow the fkes which spread from the railway to, over, and 

 upon the lands to which they may spread. 



