The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1914-12-20
MA 1ION "A BIC REST
FIRES THIS r
In the United States Number
1000 More Than Those
Occurring in 1910.
tspeeIal e LIE sunday felegraml. J,

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Especial tosthe Sunday felegram).S
WASHINGTON, d. c., Dec. l9.-
The season Of 1914, according to the
officials Of the forest service, carried
greater danger from fire to the ma
tional forests than any year since the
establishment Of the national forests.
To meet this emergency and to pre-
vent great loss Of public property, the,
department Of agriculture was obliged
to exceed the amount appropriated
for fire protection and incur O de-
flciency OF s349,243. The conditions
Of drouth and, other factors Of forest
fire hazard were said to be worse
than In 1910, when the disastrous
Idaho fires occurred.
Weather bureau reports show that
in most Of the Rocky mountain and
Pacific coast region last wiNer'A
SHOWS were much below the normal,
and as q result there was an early
spring and an early drying out Of the
forests. In western Montana and
northern Idaho there were forest fires
In considerable numbers by the end
OF May and they continued until oc-
I-tober In California, where there is
normally a very long season of drouth,
the fire season started in some por-
tons five weeks earlier than usual,
and in the southern part OF the state
the fire danger was still great at the
end of November. A long dry season,
sustained periods Of high tempera-
ture, recurring hard and steady.
Winds and, in certain places, unusual
~ hot, dry nights, rendered the for-
ests exceedingly infiammable and the
problem OF fire prevention unusually
difficult.
! More Than Six Tliolsanl Fires.
The total number OF fires during
the season OF 1914 which threatened
the national forests and which had to
be handled by the protective organ.
ization Of the forest service were
6,ll2, or about 1000 more than ocs
CURED in 1910. This number repre-
sents the fires reported upt Decem-
Der i. AT that time reports indicated
that there was still a dangerous con-
dition in southern California and in
certain portions of the national for
ests of the east. The service says
that the total for the year will be in
creased by fires in these regions DUR
ing December.
The most serious conditions are re-
ported from ewstern Montana and
northern Idaho and on the Pacific
slope. The weather conditions in the
central and southern Rocky mountain
regions were more nearly normal. As
consequence only fifteen per cent
of the total number of ali national
fnraSt f1rna oCnprra,3 t,,ii ~ q, 4 ,.,.,,.,
and they were handled withiut diff.
Guilty and with very small loss. of
property.
o fthe entire 6,112 fires which
threatened the national forests,
teighty-one per cent were extinguished
by the protective organization before
they had coveerd ten acres. The per-
centage of fires that burned over more
than ten acres was smaller than in
any previous year. u
While detailed reports have not yet
been received appraising the exact
loss to the government through the
forest fires, preliminary estimate,
shows that the loss of merchantable
timber will probably not exceed $780,
90. In 1910 the corresponding esti-
mate OF loss was enarly $4,000, 900,
but later estimates materially reduced
the amount. Through the work Of
the protective force the fires this
year were largely confined to old
burns and to less heavily timbered
areas. The loss to the government
through the destruction of young
trees which had sprung up in these
openings is larger tina nthe actual
!. loss to green timber.
Region of Greatest Danger.
In Montana and Idaho alone, it is
| said that the value of specific bodies
of timber which were threatened by
the approximately 1000 fires which
! started and were put out, aggregated
the enormous sum Of over $50,000,000
1t was in this section that the largest
amount of money had to be spent to
preevnt a recurrence of the great
disaster of 1910. In Oregon and
Washington, 1.-THE 200 fires which
were handled by the department
threatened upwards of $24,000,000
worth of timber. And these figures,
according to the department experts,
do not include the value of non-mer-
charitable timber and young growth
on about 100000 acres OF land, and
several million dollars worth Of ranch
and other private property which lay
in the path of the threatening con-
fiagrations. Figures are not yet
gathered of the precise amount of
damage threatened by fires in Cali
fornia and other national forest
states, though they are expected to
add large amounts to the total value
of the property threatened and saved
o,,.n,-.n,r