Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-10-08
FOREST FIRES DUE
TO CARELESSNESS
TO BAD CONDITIONS AND TO IN.
EFFECTIVE LOCAL PRO-
TECTICN.
CUT-OVER LANDS NOW THE
CHIEF SOURCE OF
DANGER
CUT-OVER

Washington, Oct. "A telegram re-
celved from Raymond w Pullman. of
the forest service, who is l.. Mime.
sofa investigating forest fire condit-
ions, estimates the loss in the Hib-
bing and Chislom districts at from
five to ten million dollars. Practically
all the district is cut-over country.
Brush fires ran everywhere, but the
long rain has put an end t. them
THE Minnesota forest fires are due
to a combination of bad conditions,
local Indifference, and the lack of
thoroughly effective protection" said
Smith Riley, chief inspector of the
national forest district which includes
the Minnesota National forest, who
is now in Washington after a trip
I through the fire region.
! "Of course, after a prolonged
drought, the woods are very infiam.
mable, and fires are sure to occur.
The only way to keep them down is
to put them out quickly wherever
they start. This is the method used
! by the forest officers on the national
forests Forest officers are constantly
on the watch, and at the first sign of
a fire rush to get it out before it
reaches any size. In this they are as
sisted by the local population, which
has come to realize the Importance of
preventing destructive fires and CO.
operate heartily with the service.
I'm Minnesota there seems to be
little sentiment against fires which
do not threaten settlements or valu,
able standing timber. The state has
fire warden system, but it is alto
gether inadequate under such con.
ditions as the present. Bear in mind,
that nearly all the pine country OF
the lake states has been cut over and
burned over in the past, so that it is
either brush land or inferior timber,
of which no one takes much account.
Consequently no one is interested to
put out smouldering fires.
Il, myself, when I was in Minneso
ia a few days ago, saw a number OF
these fires which were due to care.
F lessness of campers in leaving their
fires unextinguished. The whole
country was oyerhung by a pail OF
smoke, and the woods were like tin.
der, Yet parties moving through the
wilderness would leave their camping
places on the shores of the lakes
without taking the trouble to see that
the camp fires were put out.
"Other fires which I saw were the
result of brush burning by farmers,
and still others had started from rail
roads. These are mostly the causes
of forest fires-Carelessness in the
use of fire by sportsmen, camping
parties and others in the woods,
brush burning, and locomotive sparks.
They will always have to be reckoned
with, and the fire problem is, how to
reckon with them.
"Fire patrol during the dangerous
season is absolutely necessary in for
ested regions, if fires are to be kept
down. In regions of heavy timber the
owners maintain a patrol system of
their own. But from the point of view
of the future, the greatest need is to
keep fires out of the cut-oVer lands
which the owners are generally I'M
able or unwilling to protect. The fires
on such lands are net spectacular,
yet as they run over the ground they
kill every little Seeding, and so make
impossible a future forest.
"The forested states ought to find
it worth while to protect this form of
property just as cities protect city
property through their fire depart
ments A well organized state system
can be made Of great educational
value, as we'll as furnishing a means
of attacking fires after they start by
teaching the Indifferent that small
fires are dangerous and enforcing reg
ulations against careless use of fire
Education is far more effective than
laws and enalties as a deterrent"