180 FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



fires, lie may appoint, temporarily, needed firewardens, whoso duties and authority shall bo the same as herein 

 given to town supervisors acting as firewardens. He shall properly divide into fire districts all unorganized 

 territory in this State and appoint competent firewardens therein; he shall co-operate with any police or military 

 force of the United States Government which may he detailed to guard the national domain from fire; lie shall 

 investigate the extent of the forests in the State, together with the amounts and vaiieties of the wood and timber 

 growing therein, the damages done io them from time to time by forest fires and the causes of such fires, the method 

 used, if any, to promote the regrowth of timber, and any other important facts relating to forest interests which 

 may be required by the forest commissioner. The information so gathered, with his suggestions relative thereto, 

 shall he included in a report to he made by him annually to the forest commissioner. 



Sec. 4. The forest commissioner shall provide and officially sign an abstract of the penal laws of this act, with 

 such rules and regulations in accord therewith as he may deem necessary, and on or before the first day of April of 

 each year he shall forward as many copies as he considers needful to the chairman of each town board of supervisors 

 and presidents of villages, to the forest firewardens that he has appointed, and to all railroad companies and to the 

 chairman of each board of county commissioners in this State, and it shall be the duty of said firewardens to post 

 up such abstract as warning placards in conspicuous places in their respective districts, and it shall be the duty of 

 the county commissioners of each county to cause the said abstract to be published in at least throe issues of the 

 official papers in their respective counties during the fire-dangerous season of each year, which shall be reckoned 

 from the 15th of April to the 1st of November. 



Skc. 5. During a dry and dangerous season, when forest and prairie fires are prevailing or are liable to break 

 out, the chief firewarden shall use such means under his command as he may deem necessary to prevent or suppress 

 such fires, and his expenses shall be paid by the State, which expenditures in one year shall not exceed five thousand 

 dollars, to be paid for out of the general revenue fund, upon the order of the forest commissioner. 



Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of each fire warden to take precautions to prevent the setting of forest or prairie 

 fires, and when his district is suffering or threatened with fire, to go to the place of danger to control such fires, and 

 each forest firewarden shall have authority to call to his assistance in emergencies any able-bodied male person 

 over eighteen years of age, and if such person refuses, without reasonable justification or excuse, to assist, or if any 

 firewarden refuses or neglects to perform the duties assigned him in this act, such officer or person shall be deemed 

 guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred 

 ($100) dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed three (3) months. 



Sec. 7. The chief firewarden and the several firewardens created by this act shall have authority to enforce 

 the provisions of this act, and it shall be their duty to co-operate with the firewarden of any adjoining district, and 

 in the absence of such firewardens to direct the work of control and extinguishment of forest or prairie fires in such 

 district, and to arrest, without warrant, every person violating any provisions of this act, and to forthwith take 

 the offender before a magistrate and make complaint against such person. The chairmen of boards of township 

 supervisors, presidents of villages, and firewardens appointed by the chief firewarden shall inquire into the cause 

 of each forest or prairie fire within their districts and shall report the same to the chief firewarden and the methods 

 used to control or extinguish such fires and the amount of property destroyed and the number of lives lost, if any, 

 and report such other facts in regard to said fires as said chief firewarden may require. During the more dangerous 

 season of the year the chief firewarden may require frequent reports from the chairmen of township boards, or in 

 unorganized towns from firewardens appointed by the said chief firewarden, as to condition of forest and prairie 

 fires and as to what is being clone to control the same. 



Sec. 8. Each firewarden shall receive for his actual services rendered under this act two ($2) dollars per day, 

 two-thirds of which shall be paid by the county where such service is performed and one-third by the State; and 

 any employee engaged in like service shall receive at the rate of one and fifty one-hnndredths ($1.50) dollars per 

 day, and said expense shall also be paid, two-thirds by the county where such service is rendered and one-third by 

 the State, as hereinafter provided ; but no payment shall be made to any claimant under this act until he shall have 

 presented an itemized account and made oath or affirmation that said account is just and correct, which account 

 shall be approved by the board of township supervisors and shall be audited by the county commissioners, when 

 satisfied of the justice of the claim, and left on file with the county auditor; in case of unorganized townships the 

 board of county commissioners alone shall approve and audit such accounts. The county auditor shall thereupon 

 issue to each claimant his -warrant upon the county treasurer for the entire sum to which such claimant is entitled, 

 and the treasurer shall pay the same. Such county auditor shall transmit the original oath and copy of the warrant 

 to the State auditor, who shall audit such claim, and one-third thereof shall be paid out of the State treasury from 

 the general revenue fund by warrant issued by the State auditor upon the State treasury in favor of the county 

 thereof paying the same, and forward the same to the auditor of said county: Provided, That no firewarden shall be 

 paid in any one year for moie than ten (10) days 7 service m extinguishing and preventing forest or prairie fires, 

 nor for more than five (5) days' service in each year in posting notices and making the reports required by this act, 

 nor m the aggregate for more than fifteen (15) days' service, of whatever character, in any one year; nor shall any 

 one person employed by firewardens to assist in extinguishing or preventing forest or prairie fires be paid for more 

 than five (5) days of such service in any one year. No county shall expend more than five hundred ($500) dollars of 

 public money in any one year under this act. 



Sec. 9. Any person who willfully, negligently, or carelessly sets on fire, or causes to be set on fire, any woods, 

 prairies, or other combustible material, whether or not on his own lands, by means whereof the property of another 

 is injured or endangered, or any person who willfully, negligently, or carelessly suffers any fire set by himself to 

 damage the property of another, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hun- 

 dred ($100) dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding threo nnmrhs, Any person who maliciously 



