The State forestry 
organization also administers 
the rural community fire 
program. Rural fire 
departments are organized 
and trained to meet local 
needs. Equipment is provided 
to the limits of funds available. 
Usually communications and 
personal protective 
equipment receive high 
priority. Excess Federal 
vehicles and equipment 
available for loan from the 
USDA Forest Service are 
rebuilt or modified as needed 
and provided to these fire 
departments. Local fire 
departments are often 
integrated into the State 
forest fire organization to 
provide early attack and 
mutual assistance in fire 
control. 
Every State in the South has 
laws concerning arson and 
fires resulting from 
carelessness. Rewards are 
now Offered in many places 
for information leading to the 
arrest and conviction of 
arsonists. However, arson 
still accounts for 48 percent 
of wildfires in the South. 
There is little doubt that the 
success of reestablishing the 
South’s forests and industrial 
development based on that 
86 
forest resource are the result 
of successful fire prevention 
and suppression programs 
organized and carried out by 
the States. Very early it was 
recognized that fire destroyed 
_ not only standing timber but 
more importantly seedlings 
and trees still too small for 
market. W.W. Ashe 
recognized this and 
described the consequences 
of fire in his 1895 bulletin. 
Fire prevention and control 
was and remains the key to 
successful regeneration of 
the South’s cutover lands. 
Fire protection allows 
abandoned agricultural land 
to regenerate to pine and 
protects seedlings until they 
are large enough to stand 
limited burning (Ashe 1895). 
Fire protection was the 
principal task of the State 
forestry organizations in their 
early years. The South's 
"third forest" was the result 
of fire protection, a service 
needed and provided by the 
States (Peters 1 !3 and 
1922, Artman and Dean 
1945, Bruner 1928). 
State Forest Resource 
Planning 
The Forest and Rangeland 
Renewable Resources 
