The Portland daily press., 1900-07-09
THOSE FIRES.
City Fathers Considering Peaks Island
ANIMALS.


What is to be done at Peaks island to
prevent the occurrence of the fires which
have become an annual institution there.
They occur about the same time each
year, they cost from So, 900 to $4,000 and
burn over about the same amount of
land. A few cottages which are not very
expensive are endangered by these forest
fires, but they are in the city of Port
land, their owners pay taxes and they
are entitled to protection. The fires seem
to grow worse each year and they are
the hardest fires to fight that the fremen
have to tackle. They have great difficult
ties to overcome owing to the large area
which is usually on fire, the distance
from the water and the trouble they ex-
perienced from the bursting Of hose
which is not made strong enough to re-
sist the great pressure which it is found
necessary to use. Had it not been for
the fire boat the greater part of the
woods of Peaks island and the cottages
which are scattered through them would
have been destroyed long ago
Thsre is a feeling that these fires are
set by malicious persons when there
has been a dry period for some time and
in fact there has been plenty of evidence
found to give the tiremen assurance that
some people have started the fires, but
of course it has not been possible to OBJ
tain evidence enough against any one
to convict them. Piles of brush have
been found which have been set on IRE
at places far removed from the original
fires and these brush piles show that
some one has piled them up and applied
the match for the very purpose of setting
the surrounding woods on fire.
1t seems impossible to entirely extin-
guish one OF the fires in the woods. The
fire gets into a swamp and shoulders
away in the peat bogs until the wind
freshens when it bursts out again with
all of its original fury and goes galloDing
through the young growth, once more
calling the firemen from the city to
grope through the choking smoke and
to drag hose through the woods for
hours at a time.
What are the remedies for this sort of
thing is the question the citizens of
Portland are now asking? Some sug-
gest that patrolmen be put on duty to
guard the woods and to keep their eyes
open for incendiaries during the dry
weather. The trouble with this scheme
is that the patrolmen would have miles
to cover and then, even if there was a
small army of them, they would have
hard work to catch anyone setting fires.
Another plan is to make the owners of
the woods clean up the underbrush, but
this, though it might be done, would
be hard to accomplish. Another plan is
to equip the island with system of
water works and that is really what
must be done before many years have
passed. The trouble with this plan is to
get water enough for household use and
for fire purposes as we'll. 1t can be done,
without a doubt and sooner or later it
must be done.
Mayor Frank W. Robinson suggested
another method Saturday when asked
about the matter. He said that it had
been intimated to him that it would
be entirely feasible to lay large iron
pipe from one of the wharves on the
north side of the island up over the ridge
and into the woods where these fires are
most frequent and there run a net work
of pipes over the danger section, The
fire boat could then lay at wharf at
Peaks island and force enough water
through these iron pipes and up over
the hill to extinguish almost any fire
that might be started. This plan, so the
Mayor is informed, would not be very
expensive one to put into operation and
would besides give Peaks very good
fire protection. Something of this sort
will undoubtedly be done before anoth.
er year. The officials of the city are be-
coming tired of paying 500 an houl
for four or five days out of every sum.
mer to extinguish brush fires on the isl
ands.