Abstract Forest fire statistics provide a chronological record of the results of fire control, but must be analyzed and interpreted if they are to be of more than historical value. The effectiveness of protection effort, for example, cannot be judged by number of fires and areas burned alone, since conditions vary from year to year and from place to place. Unless the conditions prevailing are taken into consideration the picture is obscured and conclusions can be misleading. A recent attempt to appraise the effectiveness of fire control effort on the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota led to a partial analysis of available records and the results are here presented as an example of one approach to the problem.
John Mitchell (Mon,) studied this question.