The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-07-07
BIG REDUCTION
IN FOREST FIRE
Loss is MADE.
S. S. Whitaker's Fiscal
Year Report Made to
County Commission

has travelled I,79l. miles in the
conduct Of his work, interviewed
270 people in the cause of the
reduction of fires and has spent
l046 hours on the job.
Besides reporting considerable
road work in this county done by
the CCC camps, he shows that
for the year closed as compared
with the preceding year, fires in
the county have been reduced %
per cent.
Mr.. Whitaker's report follows:
As county forest warden, /
wish to submit the following re-
port covering my activities for
the first IL months of this fiscal
year, as they relate to our coun-
tvs cooperation in Forest Fire
Control under your cooperative
agreement with the Forest Serv-
ice, of the Department of Con-
servation and Development.
have worked l0l6 hours, and
Travelled 479l miles in the con-
duet of my work. Literature on
fire prevention and forestry has
been distributed in the schools of
the county and talks on the same
subjects have been made in the
larger schools. | have interviewed
279 people in the interest of for
est protection.
There are IA district wardens
under appointment to assist in
the handling of fires, and we
have lG brush hooks, 80 fire
rakes, and Is fire pumps, for use
in the suppression of forest fires.
Two hundred and twenty-one
residents of the county have been
hired in suppreSSing fires and
they and the district wardcns
have received $262.26 in wages.
Fifty-one persons have volunteer
cd their time in fighting fire, and
the value of this time is $2l.65,
and the average cost of suppress
ing fire was $5.04. We have
also been assisted by the CCC in
fighting number Of fires, and
the value of this time amounts to
S73.45, which is dontion by the
Federal government.
During the period Of this re-
port, we have had in Henderson
county 90 fires, which burned a
total of 1888 acres, or an average
of per fire of 81 acres. The re-
sponsible party has been definite
ly determined in ID of these fires,
which represents % per cent of
the fires occurring during the pc
riod Of this repotr. Due to the
circumstances surrounding sew
cral Of these cases, no definite
law enforcement action has been
taken. However, in the majority
of the cases, definite action was
taken which resulted in five prose-
cutionS. Fines adm costs amount
ing to $2l.95 have been assessed
against the guilty parties, and in
addition, the state and county
have been reimbursed by the re-
sponsible parties for monies spent
in extinguishing forest fires in
the amount of S3.77. This sum,
of course, revertS to the state and
county for reuse.
The following summary of fire
statistics for the fiscal years
1886 and 1867 may be of
interest:
Year l935-36-No. of fires, 50;
total area burned, acres, 270l;
average size of fire, 39.l4 acres.
Year l936-37-No. of fires, so;
total area burned, acres, 1888:
average size of fire, 27.55 acres.
A reduction in the number of
fires, the total acreage burned
over and the average size of fires
is thus shown.
AS you can readily see from
the above comparative data, we
have had in Henderson county a
decrease of % per cent in the
number of fires over last year, a
decrease of AZ per cent in the
area burned, and decrease of 30
per cent in the average size Of
fires.
I Our county is now receiving
considerable CCC work. This
work is being carried on by Camp
PEG, at Brevard. At this time
there has been approximately II
miles of road completed. This
consists of 10 miles along the
Blue Ridge, and the seven miles
of road from the Briggs place
through the Shoal and Dismal
Greek sections to the Crab Creek
road. The cost of the road is
approximately $4,000 per mile, or
a total of $35, 00G. An additional
five miles of road is now under
construction on the South Caro-
lima line, south of Green River.
We also hope to have the Corbin
telephone line constructed to Tux
edo within a short time. With the
completion of this line, we will
have two towers, namely, Bear
wallow and Corbin, covering the
county. Their spotting and re-
porting of fires is supplemented
by the Tryon Mountain tower, in
Polk county, and the USES tow
er at Ferrin's Knob, in Buncombe
county. The CCC has also COM
pleted two timber stand improve
ment plots, totaling nine acres,
one at the Mountain Sanitarium,
and the other at the McCabe
place. Such CCC Improvements
are, of course, the result of our
county's cooperation with the
North Carolina Forest Service
and would not have been avail
able otherwise.
We find that the woods prod
ducts industry pays approximate
ly $4,000 to farmers, landown-
ers and laborers of the county,
exclusive of profit or wages in