"They seem to be pretty well out around here, though."
"That's because there are so many people to keep them under. But up in the big woods, where we're going, they're likely to have bad ones, when they start. You see a fire can get going pretty well up there before anyone discovers it, and then it's the hardest sort of work to stop it before it's done an awful lot of damage."
"How do those fires in the woods start, Jack?"
"That's pretty hard to say, Pete. Careless campers start a whole lot of them. They build fires, and just leave them going when they get through. Then the sparks begin to fly, and the fire spreads."
"They ought to be arrested!"
"They are, if anyone can prove that they really did start the fire. But that's pretty hard to do."
"Don't the fires start other ways, too?"
"You bet they do! Sometimes the sparks from an engine will set the dry leaves on the ground on fire, and, if there happens to be a wind, that will start the biggest sort of a fire."
"Isn't there any way to prevent that?"
"Yes—but it's expensive and difficult. But gradually they're giving up the coal engines in the woods, and use oil burners instead. There are no sparks and hot cinders to drop from an oil burning engine, you see, and it makes it much safer and cleaner, as well."