Chap. 0209 An Act to provide for the protection of forest or sprout lands from fire.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. In a town which accepts the provisions of this act or has accepted a corresponding provision of earlier laws no tires shall be set in the open air between the first day of April and the first day of December, except by the written permission of the forest warden: provided, that debris from fields, gardens and orchards, or leaves and brush from yards may be burned on ploughed fields by the owners thereof, their agents or lessees, but in every case such fire shall be at least two hundred feet distant from any forest or sprout lands, and shall be properly attended until it is extinguished. The forest warden shall cause public notice to lie given of the provisions of this section, and shall enforce the same. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one month, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Section 2. The provisions of the preceding section shall not apply to fires which may be set in accordance with regulations and methods approved by the superintendent for suppressing the gypsy and brown tail moths.
Section 3. The state forester shall notify every town in the commonwealth of the passage of this act by sending at least three printed copies thereof to the town clerk, who shall post the same in conspicuous places.
Section 4. The state forester and forest warden may arrest without a warrant any persons found in the act of setting a fire in violation of any provision of this act.
Section 5. The selectmen of every town shall cause this act to be submitted to the voters for their acceptance at the next annual meeting of the town after the passage of this act. The vote shall be taken by separate ballot, and shall be '* Yes " or " Xo " in answer to the following question printed upon the ballot: ,k Shall an act passed by the general court in the year nineteen hundred and eight, entitled ' An Act to provide for the protection of forest or sprout lands from fire ' be accepted by this town I " A majority vote of the legal voters present and voting at such
mooting shall he required for the acceptance of this act; and upon such acceptance the provisions of section twenty-four of chapter thirty-two of the Revised Laws shall cease to apply to any town which has previously accepted that section. Approved Mavch 1.1/, 100S.