Executive Order  No. 12: (1st Series) Fire permits for burning automobiles or motor vehicles to make scrap metal during wartime

WHEREAS, it is essential to a successful prosecution of the existing war that the largest possible quantity of scrap iron and steel be made immediately available for use in the production of ships, tanks, guns and other implements of war; and

WHEREAS, a potential source of considerable amounts of such scrap iron and steel is to be found in "junked automobiles," so called; and

WHEREAS, the process of reducing said "junk automobiles" to scrap metals available for production includes the burning of said automobile bodies; and

WHEREAS, the Government of the United States, through the War Production Board, has stressed the urgent need for such scrap metals and has reported that the procurement thereof is impeded by existing restrictions upon the issuance of permits to automobile wreckers to burn such automobile bodies:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 7, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, section 2 (15) and section 3, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

During the continuance of the existing state of war, it shall be lawful for any person, acting under written permit therefor, to set, maintain or increase a fire in the open air at such times during the months of April and May as may be specified in the said permit, for the sole purpose of burning automobile bodies to make scrap metals available therefrom. Written permits covering a period not exceeding five days from the date thereof may be granted by the forest warden or chief of the fire department in cities and towns, or in cities having such an official, by the fire commissioner. Every such permit shall be subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed by the officer issuing the same, for the purpose of protecting life and property, and shall be revocable by the issuing officer at any time.

The authority conferred by this executive order shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the authority conferred by General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter 48, section 13, as amended by Acts of 1941, chapter 581.

No person who shall set, maintain or increase a fire in conformity with a permit issued pursuant to this order shall thereby be deemed to violate the provisions of General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter 48, section 13.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-sixth.

By His Excellency the Governor,
LEVERETT SALTONSTALL

FREDERIC W. COOK,
Secretary of the Commonwealth