The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1914-11-14
OF SEASON
FOR FOREST fires


though the danger in the yellow pine
type on the lower ground Of the sal
mon forest viii not be over until there
is greater precipitation and a small
FIRE was reported as late as this
week on the Wasatch forest.
The total of 500 fires this year IS
fifteen greater than in 1910, although
the cost Of e~xtinguishing them was
only one-third. and the total damage
caused only 3 Is per cent of that of
the great FIRE year. In 1910, of a total
of 3s4 fires. 1887. or - per cent. cas-
Ell a damage Of less than 800, while
IS per cent. or l47. each burned prop
erty Worth 500 or more. This sesspn
the number of fires whose damage vas
less than 800 was 92H per cent, only
80 fires, or rs per cent of the total,
doing a damage greater than 800.
lightning and Campers Chief Causes.
For four years lightning has betn
an annually increasing cause of
fires. starting in 1913 as many as rs
per cent. This year lightning causfd
hnt SO per cent, although it caused
one-half of the fires on the Boise and
Weiser. 81 per cent of those on the
Salmon and all but -four on the Idaho.
Campers caused los, or 81 per cent,
OF the fires this year and they wefe
particularly destructive on the Tar
ghee, where % fires or IS per cent Of
the total were started by them. Light
ming and campers combined. caused 81
per cent of 19I4's fires. Seventy per
cent of the fires occurred on the Ida
no, Boise. Challis. Payette, Salmon.
Targhee and Weiser forests, lying In
the main in an east and west belt
across central Idaho on the northern
border of District 4. and % per cent
of the total expenditure for fires was
incurred on these forests.
The timber destroyed was greatest
Oh the Idaho, twenty million feet on
1890 acres, and second greatest on
the Salmon with 2.164.0O0 board feet
the acreage of timber land burned
over on this forest beng l0,SlS acres.
The Boise forest. with a total OF
thirty fires. seven per cent of the Dis
total, held fifteen of its fires
on ~one-quarter acre, thirteen to be-
one-quarter and ten acres,
while only two were of Glass CT. or
over ten acres. The supervisor as
eribes the success to the fact that the
telephone system was kept in work
ing order throughout the entire sea
son, and to the good services render
ed by the lookout stations on Bald
mountain, which is equipped with
both telephone and Photograph, and
the Summit Flat station, equipped
with the heliograph only.
The Challis forest escaped with
much less serious injury than in 1910,
but FIVE per cent of the total
number of fires this year and of these
only five burned over ten acres each,
four being of ten or more acres, but
less than 800 damage, and one of
than $1,000 damage, entirely
the forest. The total damage
to forest resources was but $256.50.
Automobiles an Advantage.
The supervisor of the Palisade
of the Roadway gained IN
with fires by use of automo-
biles, which in each case this year ont
only proved cheaper, counting the
time of the men transported, than
horse equipment, but of course con
tributed in a greater way in facilitat-
an earlier attack on the fire. This
forest is surrounded by an unusual
number of ranches and irrigated and
dry farms, and the supervisor states
he or District rangers were mott
fed by from FIVE to ten different per
of each fire, which shows the
deep interest and splendid co-opera-
ton of the citizens generally toward
Suppression of fires.
The supervisor of the Salmon re
ports that the conditions were more
favorable for fires. than in 1910, the
season being drier, so that small
and creeks hat furnished wa
ter in 1910 were dry this year and the
Salmon and Lemhi rivers the lowest
known. The wind also blew ev-
cry day from July 26 to September IL.
Damaging frosts were almost gen
eral throughout this District. The
was unusually wet ard the
growth of forage plants and under
growth in consequence luxuriant. The
frost killed nearly all of the weeds,
much of the grass and even caused
the leaves of the aspen and tamaraek
to fall. This contributed materially
to tn spread of ground fires.