Conservation Commission 165 



fire warden should give permission. This recommendation was 

 embodied in the forest laws of 1897. The area to which these 

 restrictions applied included 85 towns within the Forest Preserve. 

 This was the origin of the so-called " Fire Towns " which will be 

 explained further in subsequent pages. 



The law of 1898 also increased the compensation of fire fight- 

 ers, who might be called out by a fire warden, from $1 to $2 per 

 day for the time actually employed. 



The forest law was amended in 1900 by the addition of a pro- 

 vision requiring the appointment of a chief fire warden to take 

 charge of the fire wardens, under the direction of the Superin- 

 tendent of Forests, and to attend to the enforcement of the laws 

 relating to forest fires. 



In 1900 also the application of the law placing the organiza- 

 tion of a fire warden system in the hands of the Commission was 

 restricted to the sixteen forest preserve counties in the Adiron- 

 dacks and Catskills. In spite of that restriction of the forest 

 law, the town supervisor was still ex-officio fire warden in his 

 town, and a decision handed down by the Supreme Court in 

 May, 1902, held that a supervisor could be held responsible for 

 damages caused by a forest fire which was suffered to burn on 

 account of his negligence or inattention to duty. 



The name of the Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission was 

 changed by the laws of 1901 to the Forest, Fish and iGame Com- 

 mission and the number of commissioners was reduced to one. 



The bad forest fires of 1903 emphasized the need of the en- 

 forcement of the laws relative to the proper precautions which 

 should be taken by railroads. To provide for the enforcement of 

 these laws, provision was made in 1904 for five assistant fire 

 wardens, at least four of whom were to inspect railroads and en- 

 gines operating thereon in the forest preserve counties of the 

 State. 



The laws of 1904 further provided that in times of great fire- 

 danger the Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner should have the 

 power to organize and maintain a patrol along railroad lines in 

 the Forest Preserve, one-half of the cost of such patrol to be paid 

 by the railroads. Under the same conditions the Commissioner 

 was given the power to organize a patrol in any town in the Forest 



