FIRE PROTECTION 77 
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Section 42. Municipal officers in towns shall proceed immediately to a 
strict inquiry into the cause and origin of fires within woodlands; and in all 
cases where such fires are found to have originated from the unlawful act of 
any person, to cause the offender to be prosecuted without delay. 
Section 43. The selectmen of towns in which a forest fire of more than 
one acre in extent has occurred, within a month shall report to the forest 
commissioner the extent of area burned over to the best of their information, 
together with the probable amount of property destroyed, specifying the value 
of timber as near as may be, and the amount of cord wood, logs, bark or other 
forest product, fencing, bridges and buildings that have been burned. They 
shall also report the causes of these fires if they can be ascertained, and the 
measure employed and found effective in checking their progress. Blanks for 
such reports shall be furnished by the forest commissioner at the expense of 
the State. 
