Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 2 · column 5 of 9 · from the scan, no model involved
One Forest Fire
Reported in Rapp’k
The Division of Forestry reports that 227 forest fires burned 977 acres of forestland in the 16-county Northern Piedmont District during 1970. In Rappahannock County, only one fire occurred burning 3 acres of open land. During 1969 there syas a total of 367.fires, tmd tyese fires burned 1077 forested -acres in the Northern Piedmont area. " During most of 1970 the fire danger was moderate, but severe conditions developed during late March and April. During these months, forest wardens and volunteer fire departments were able to keep the average size of the fire relatively small, even though fires were numerous. A deficiency of rainfall was noted throughout the first half of the year.
The cause of several district fires was due to brush and debris burning. Other major causes were smoking, dumps, hot ashes, hunters, electric fences, etc., and children playing with matches accounted for a large number of fires. Railroads were responsible for about 15 percent, as burning carbon, hot metal from brakes, and burning fuses cause fires on the railroad rights-of-way which often burn into the forests. Smokey Says:
92.2%