Show BIG DROP IN FOREST FIRES 00 OA O- O A considerable drop in the number and destructiveness of Forest fires in Utah is noted in reports from all days in September Just received by District Forester R R. R II Rutledge These show that in Utah there have been only nine fires upon National Forest land during the period and only acres have b been en burned over Five Fi of these fires occurred on the Ashley Forest north of the Uinta basin The total for the season in Utah no now stands 76 fires which have burned over 2921 acres of National Forest land The small acreage burned burn ed over is due primarily to the degree of protection offered by the Forest Service as many thousand acres of public domain have been een burned over not only in the more Inaccessible re regions regions re- re gions glons but even close to the centers of population as in the Oquirrh Mountains and the ranges between Salt Lake and Ogden which are not within thin any National Forest The reports reports re reo re- re ports show that in the entire Intermountain Intermountain Inter Inter- mountain District convictions have been secured on account of manmade manmade manmade man- man made fires This is out oat of f a total of fires of this class doss a much higher record of convictions than lies has ever been secured heretofore While conditions are much Improved ed in Utah a serious situation still exists in Idaho where during the past ten days there have been 78 new fires which have burned over a total of n nearly arly acres |