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Forest Fires 'In County
Show Decrease in 1951
The Virginia Forest Service’s annual forest fire report, for the sixteen-county Northern Piedmont District, Including this county, shows improvement over the annual report for 1950, according to Districe Forester D. G. Wilfong, Jr.
Wilfong stated that in his district with headquarters in Charlottesville, there were approximately 69 less forest fires during the past year than in 1950, and that .there was also a reduction of 111 acres of forest land burned over in 1951 than during the previous year. The forest fire statistics for the state of Virginia for 1951 have not been released to date, but it is reported that they *will also be less than for the 1960 calendar year.
In Rappahannock County during the past year the Forest Service record shows a decrease in the number of forest fires from 9 in 1950 to € in 1951. Also, the forest land acreage burned over in the county in 1951 was 52 acres as compared to 246 acres burned in 1950.
An interesting item, Wilfong said, was the increase in the per« centage of suppression costs collected from responsible persons letting fires escape in the district this year over 1950. Forty-nine per cent of the suppression costs were collected on the 233 odd fires as compared to only 40% in 1950. This increase is attributed to the fire law enforcement and investigation work of the county Chief Forest Wardens. *
Of the 2,033 acres which burned in 1951, ov4r 700. of these acres were destroyed in one day the past
words, Wilfong said that one third or approximately 33% of the total acreage burned in 1951 was lost during one severe fire day.
To be able to continue the ever increasing drain of forest products from the forests to meet our annual needs for pulpwood and saw timber in Virginia, it will be necessary to keep improving the forest fire record. Tlys in turn will help compensate for much of the destructive cutting practices being carried on in Virginia’s forest lands.
Remember the slogan of all VirGREEN~
4,KBEP VIRGINIA
61.7%