Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1914 — FOREST FIRES IN UNITED STATES IN 1913 MANY, BUT HELL CONTROLLED [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOREST FIRES IN UNITED STATES IN 1913 MANY, BUT HELL CONTROLLED

Government Forces Fought 4,520 Conflagrations in That Year, or Nearly Twice as Many as Started in 1912—Total Loss, Due to Damage From Flames, Estimated at $192,- - —OOO for the Entire Period.

Washington,—During 1913 the forces •on the national forests fought 4,520 fires, or nearly twice as many as startled in 1912, the best year the forests have ever had.

Notwithstanding the great Increase in the number of fires, Forester •Graves considers that the showing: made by the forest service was quite as favorable as that in the preceding year, because the damage done and the costs of fire fighting were *no greater proportionately thas ia-1912. In both years practically 50 per cent •of all fires were detected and extinguished before they burned over a ■quarter of an acre, and 25 per cent of both years’ fires were put out before they covered ten acres. Of last year’s fires, 3,278, or considerably more than the whole number of fires in 1912, were confined to areas of less than ten acres; and in 1,080 additional fires less than one hundred dollars* damage was done by each. In only 25 fires did the damage amount to |I,OOO. The aggregate loss in timber is estimated at nearly fifty-nine million board feet, valued at about eighty-two thousand dollars, ahd the damage to young growth and forage Is estimated at about one hundred and ten thousand dollars, making a total of about one hundred, and ninety-two thousand dollars. About eighteen per • cent of this loss, however, was incurred on private lands within the forests where 16 per cent of the fires had their origin. One encouraging feature is that the total number of fires set by railroad locomotives was scarcely more than In the preceding year and represented •only 12 per cent of all fires, as against nearly nineteen per cent in 1912; also the proportion set by sawmills and other engines In the woods was considerably less than* in 1912. This Indicates very plainly, Mr. Graves says, that the public is awakening to the need of spark arresters and care with engines in the woods. * Looking for /he reasonapf the increase in numberof fires.Ws forester i finds three main causes: First of all, the unprecedented electric storms which swept the whole state of California at the end of a

long dry season and set, almost simultaneously, about seven hundred fires. . The 804 fires set by lightning in California formed nearly fifty per cent of the 1,628 fires on the national forests of the state from all causes, and were more than half of the one thousand five hundred and seventyone lightning-set fires in all the 21 states reporting. In the second place, there were 757 fires which started outside the forests, of which 644 were stopped by the government’s fire fighters before they reached the forest boundaries, as against 424 which started on outside areas in 1912. However, the proportion of such‘fires to all those which the service battled with was about the same for 1912 and 1913, but this Increadb was confined to three states, Arkansas, California and Oregon, all others showing a marked decrease. Of the 452 Incendiary fires, 128 were In Arkansas, 133 in California and 142 in Orrfgon, where two brothers were known to have set 72 on one forest alone. These two and other incendiaries were, of course, severely dealt with by the law. On the Arkansas forest, too, it has been assumed that the 351 fires classed under the general heading Of “origin unknown* were mainly Incendiary. In Callfornla the incendiary fires are Jargely attributed to what Is known as the “light-burning theory," which advances the argument that forests should be burned over frequently to prevenj the accumulation *of debris. The forest service considers this a pernicious theory because it scars the standing timber and thus reduces its value; it robs the forest soil of its ability to

retain moisture, and effectually prevents the reproduction of the forest, since such' fires destroy all tree seedlings before they have a chance to start In 1912, lightning caused more fires than any other agency, followed closely by railroads, campers and incendiaries, in the order given. In 1913, however, the fires caused by lightnings outnumbered the next nearest cause by more than thjjee to one, .but the order—railroads, campers and incendaries—remained the same as in 1912. A considerable decrease in the

proportion set by railroads and campers indicates, according to forest officers, a growing carefulness on the part of the general public. Last year, as In 1912, California led all others in number of fires, this lead being natural because California has such a long dry season. It was followed by Arkansas, Arizona and Oregon, in the order named. Kansas, which had only one fire in 1912, escaped without any in 1913. North Dakota repeated its record of 1912 find had no fires on its one small forest Not a single severe fire occurred during the year in District 4, which includes Utah, Nevada and southern Idaho, and in which a large proportion of the forests reported no fires at all.

There was proportionately greater loss on. private lands within the forest boundaries than on the public lands. It is pointed out by the forest officers that these lands cover approximately 11 per cent of the total area included within the forest boundaries, yet the area burned over on these private lands was more than twenty-five per cent of all. The forest service expended more than thirty thousand dollars in protecting the private lands within the forests and lands adjacent to and outside ofthe forests. In addition to this cost, services and applies to the value of more than seventeen thousand dollars were contributed by co-operators for fire-fighting on these areas. In the middle of the fire season,

that is in July, the service had high hopes of small fire damage during 1913, and this hope kept up until the middle of September, when the fire season on the national forests ordinarily is about at an end. At that time there was less damage than had ever been recorded, and only 2,260

fires as against 2,470 in 1912, with about sixty thousand acres burned as compared with 230,000 in 1912 and 780,000 in 1911. At the end of the month, however, the«*electric storms in California and one or tfco outbreaks of incendiarism chanced the whole situation. But even in the face of th*se difficulties, the fire-fighting force, with its plana and experience from preceding years, was able to cope with the situation.

W. C. Graves, U. S. Forester,

Ranger on Fire Patrol Making Observations.

Ranger’s Cabin in National Forest.