Report of the Forest Commission. 27 



Warren County. 

 William H. Burnett, firewarden of the town of Queensbury, 

 Warren county, reports : 



On the 17th day of April I noticed that a forest fire was running 

 on French Mountain. I warned out four men and put it out after it 

 had burned over about one acre. It did no damage except burning up 

 some fences. It was caused by a burniDg fallow started for clearing 

 land which was not properly guarded. 



On May 16th a fire ran over quite a large tract of timber in the swamp 

 near Glens Falls, burning a small undergrowth, but not doing much 

 damage otherwise. I arrived there afterward and found that a large 

 number of persons had been engaged in extinguishing it. The origin 

 of this fire is unknown at present. 



On May 17th I saw smoke arising over the woods on French Mountain, 

 near the southerly part and east of Bloody pond. I went there with 

 four men, and notified others on the way besides. After working there 

 until 2 o'clock in the morning we succeeded in putting the fire out. It 

 ran over several acres of small timber which was burned over three 

 years ago. It did not do much damage except burning up a small 

 house in the woods which had been unoccupied a number of years. 

 The cause of this fire is not yet known, although some say that it was 

 started by an engine on the railroad; but there is no proof of this. 

 Others say that some fishermen built a fire to cook by, after which 

 they left the spot allowing the fire to spread. In either case no one 

 seems to know as to the exact facts. 



Please send me some more fire notices for posting, for I see that 

 nearly all the notices are weather-beaten and worn out. They should 

 be replaced. I have no trouble in getting men to fight fire. They 

 are all willing to work when called out, and sometimes before being 

 warned out. 



On September 6th a forest fire was running in the woods on what is 

 known as Buck Mountain, in Washington county, near the county line 

 at the Kattskill House on the shore of Lake G-eorge. I called out four 

 men to fight the fire, and we worked until dark before getting it under 

 control. I left two men to watch this fire for two days, until all the 

 danger was passed. The amount of damage was very little, as the 

 timber was all second growth and quite small at that. It burned over 

 10 or 12 acres. This fire was started by a man who was trying to 

 smoke a hive of bees out of a tree. I have not arrested him yet, but 



