The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1914-01-24

sufficiently taken care OF, as q rule,
by the requirement that conductors,
engineers and trainmen shall take
particular pains to report any fires
found burning along the right of way;
and that section mon and other regu.
lar employees along the track shall
promptly extinguish any fires report
ed to or found burning by them. The
railway company must employ add
tional labor II such action is neces
sary to the extinguishment of par
ticular fire. 1t will be noted that the
whole field organization of the rail,
way is made part Of the tre-fghting
machine.
In order to fix definitely the re.
sponsibility for extinguishing a par.
ticular fire, the order provides that
any fire starting or burning within 800
feet of the track shall be presumed
to have started from the railway un.
less proof to the contrary is furnished.
The burden of proof is thus put
squarely on the railway company.
The idea is to get the fire out first
and then talk about it later, II nee,
essary.
Where the fire danger is serious
special patrols are necessary. Hero
advantage is taken of the provision
OF the order that the railway com.
pany shall provide and maintain a
force of fire-fghting rangers fit and
sufficient for efficient patrol and fire
6ybtip- dnty durin ~, tho fro saasnp
all the details of the establishment
and maintenance OF such force to be
subject to the supervision and direc.
| ton of the chief fire inspector or
other authorized officer of the board,
This requirement for the establish.
pense of the railways themselves is
the most progressive and perhaps the
most radical feature of the order. and
! constitutes it's chief distinguishing
| characteristic. So far as known,
neither the national or state govern
ment in the United States has enact.
ed legislation along this line which
approaches this so far as placing the
burden of fire protection upon the
railways themselves is concerned. II
has been reported, however, that the
state of Maine Is considering the en-
actment OF legislation of very SINH
lar character.
AS previously noted, the require
ments as to the use of fire-protective
appliances are enforced through a
special staff of inspectors in the oper
ating department Of the board.
For the enforcement of the balance
of the order and the inspection OF the
work of the railway cimpanies, CO
operative plan has been developed
whereby certain officials Of the Brit
ish Columbia Forest Branch. and oil
the Dominion Forestry and Parks
Branches, have been appointed Off
GERS of the fire inspection depart
ment of the board, with authority &c
deal directly with the railway com
panies in the west and to vary the
requirements up or down as the loca
conditions at any time or place may
require or permit. In this way, &
perfectly elastic system of admins
protection is assured at a minimum
Of cost to the railway companies ant
with a minimum of red tape and los:
Of time.
y A similar plan Of cooperation 1:
now being worked out with the Pro
vincial, governments in the east
whereby officers of the Provincial
forestry or fire-protective branche,
will be designated to handle the 10
cal details Of fire inspection for tn,
board. The policy is to expand tn,
existing local machinery to cover thi
work, instead of establishing a new
and separate staff.
A special point Is made OF relievin,
railway companies of the necessit,
for special patrols when weather con
ditons are such that a special pa
troll is not necessary. This is likel,
to be the case in the early summe
while vegetation Is in green an,
nsncombustible condition.
To a considerable extent. specia
men are assigned to the inspection
work, and devote their whole time I,
: IL, so that a maximum of efflcienc,
is assured.
Efficient protection is obviousl.
not only essential to the public inter
: est. but It is the only correct polio,
from the point Of view of the rail
ways themselves. From the purel!
selfish point of view. this is true. be
cause, with rapidly increasing stump
age values, timber owners are no long
er willing to sit quietly by and ALLOW
their property to be destroyed withou
: any attempt at recourse. The com
paratively recent granting Of severa
verdicts for very large sums agains
Canadian railway companies for fir'
damage caused by locomotives ha:
: strongly emphasized this feature o
the situation. The interest alone OF
some of the amounts for which yer
diets have been rendered would pro
vide efficient protection over hundred.
Of miles of railway line.
: From the longtime point of view
: the argument is even stronger, sine,
forest fires will inevitably result IL
a future decrease of freight and pas
seDger traffic az we'll az I'm raising tho