Gap Filler Detail

1959 – National Archives of Canada


The Forest Fires Prevention Act

Section 12.

  1. Except where land is being cleared for agricultural purposes by a locatee, purchaser or patentee, every person, firm or corporation shall, in addition to any other requirement, obtain from an officer a work permit before,-

    1. Carrying on any logging, mining or industrial operation or before clearing land for a right-of-way for any road, trail, tote-road, ditch or flume, or for any telephone, telegraph, power or pipe line, or before clearing land to be flooded for water storage purposes, or before constructing any dam, bridge or camp or before carrying on any other woods operation of any kind liable to cause the accumulation of any slash or debris on any land within a fire district:

    2. Operating in a fire district any mill for the purpose of manufacturing timber.

  2. The application for such permit shall be in the prescribed form, and in addition to any other information required in the form shall describe the lands upon which the proposed operation is to be carried on and shall state the character thereof, the number of men to be employed, the location of camps and the probable duration of the operation.

  3. An officer may in the interest of forest protection,-

    1. Refuse the granting of permission for any operation or limit the period during which the operation may be carried on;

    2. Require that any permittee carrying on any operation under this section maintain such fire-fighting equipment in good repair and at specified locations as the officer may deem necessary for the control of fires which might be caused either directly or indirectly by the operation;

    3. Cancel at any time permit issued under this section.

  4. Where fire originates in any particular area in which any person either by himself or his employees or someone on his behalf, is carrying on any of the operations referred to in clause a or b of subsection 1, in the absence of reasonable evidence that the fire may have occurred from causes other than such operations the onus shall be upon that person to prove that the fire did not result from such operations, and in the absence of such proof that person shall bear the full cost of controlling and extinguishing the fire.

  5. A work permit shall describe the lands upon which the proposed operation is to be carried on and may be limited as to duration, but in any event shall expire on the 31st day of March next following the date of its issue, and may contain other such terms and conditions as the issuing officer may deem necessary.

  6. Where an officer finds any operation mentioned in subsection 1 being conducted without a permit he may give notice that such operation must cease until the necessary permit has been secured, and any person, firm or corporation carrying on an operation after such notice has been given shall in addition to any penalty imposed by subject to a fine of $25 for each day such operation is continued without a permit.

  7. An officer may refuse to issue a permit under this section to any person, firm or corporation convicted of an offence under this section until such time as the said person, firm or corporation has furnished the department with a bond in such amount and subject to such conditions as may be satisfactory to the officer.