PROTECTION FROM FIRE
Forest Fire Danger on the National Forests. Practically all the resources of the National Forests are subject to severe injury or even to entire destruction by fire. It is an ever-present danger on the National Forests, due to their great inaccessibility, their dry climate, and to other unfavorable conditions. There are probably few forest regions in the world where the danger of fire is greater than on the National Forests. The great size of the individual Forests, as compared with the size of the available patrolling force, the difficulty of reaching remote areas across miles of wilderness, the dry air and light rainfall in most parts of the western United States, the prevalence of lightning storms in the mountains, the sparseness of the population, and the constant use of fire in the industries and the daily life of the people, all combine to make the hazard exceptional.
Importance of Fire Protection. Forest fires when uncontrolled mean the loss of human lives, the destruction of homes, live stock, forage, timber and watershed cover. Besides the direct damage to the National Forest resources it defeats all attempts to practice forestry; it nullifies all efforts of forest management, such as regulation of cutting to insure a second crop of timber, the planting of denuded areas, and the restriction of grazing to assist reproduction. Fire destroys the very improvements which are constructed annually at great expense. In other words, protection from fire is the first and most important problem on the National Forests without which no operation or transaction, however small, can be undertaken.
If the problem of fire protection is the most important task confronting a Forest officer on the National Forests, then certainly fire prevention is next in importance. Obviously it is easier to prevent fires than to fight them. All large conflagrations have their origin in small fires which if they could be reached in time could probably be put out by one man. But in regions remote from water and supplies fires may start and reach vast proportions before a party of fire fighters can get to the scene, no matter how promptly the start is made. By far the best plan, therefore, is to prevent fires rather than to depend upon fighting them after they get started. To this end the Forest Service has given the most earnest consideration. During the dangerous season the main attention of Forest Supervisors and Forest Rangers is devoted to preventing fire. Extra men are employed, the Forests are systematically patrolled, and a careful lookout is maintained from high points. Roads and trails are so built that every part of the Forests may be quickly reached with pack animals. Tools and food for fire fighters are stored at convenient places. The Ranger stations and lookout houses are connected with the office of the Forest Supervisor by telephone, so that men may be quickly assembled to fight a dangerous fire which the patrolman cannot subdue alone. Each Forest Supervisor endeavors to secure the coöperation of all forest users in the work of preventing fires and in reporting and helping to fight them in case they get started.
Probably the beginning point of any discussion of forest fires is a consideration of their causes. The Forest Service has kept careful records year after year (by calendar and not fiscal years) concerning the cause, the damage, the area burned over, the cost of fighting and many other matters. During the calendar year 1917 there were 7,814 forest fires on the National Forests. Of these the National Forests of California had to contend with 1,862. Of the total number of forest fires 40 per cent. were confined to less than 1/4 of an acre, 28 per cent. to less than 10 acres, while 32 per cent. spread over areas greater than 10 acres. The large percentage of small fires shows how efficiently the National Forest fire protection organization works in keeping the area burned over to the lowest possible acreage.
Causes of Forest Fires on the National Forests. Forest fires on the National Forests originate in many different ways. In 1917, lightning caused 27 per cent.; unknown agencies, 17 per cent.; campers, 17 per cent.; incendiaries, 12 per cent.; railroads, 13 per cent.; brush burning, 7 per cent.; saw mills, 3 per cent., and all other causes, 4 per cent. Thus it will be seen that a very large percentage, at least 60 per cent., of the fires are attributable to human agencies and are therefore preventable. At least 27 per cent, of the fires, those attributed to lightning, are not preventable, and the only way to combat those is for the Forest officer to get to them as soon as possible after they get started. The preventable fires, however, may be arrested at their source, that is, by popular education dealing with the use of fire in the woods these causes can be greatly reduced and, in time, no doubt, eliminated. Therefore, the fire protection problem immediately resolves itself into two almost distinct phases of action—fire prevention and fire control.
Figure 34. A forest fire lookout station at the summit of Mt. Eddy. Mt. Shasta in the background, California
Just how these various agencies start fires may be of interest. Railroads cause fires by their locomotives sending out sparks through the smokestack or dropping hot ashes along the right-of-way. These sparks alight in inflammable material, such as dry grass and leaves, and start a fire. Lightning sets fire to trees, especially dead and dry ones. In the California mountains, lightning storms without rain are frequent and these do great damage. The author has seen as many as nine forest fires started by a single lightning storm inside of half an hour. Incendiary fires are set by people with varying intent. How many are set with malicious intent, just to see the forests burn, is not known, but many fires are started by people setting fires to drive game, to improve the pasture, to make traveling through the woods easier, or for other reasons. Brush burning includes those fires which start from settlers clearing land and burning the brush and thickets. Campers cause a large percentage of the fires by leaving their camp fires burning. Instead of extinguishing them before they leave camp, careless people let them burn; a wind blows a few sparks into some dry leaves or grass nearby, and the fire is started. Many forest fires also start around logging camps by sparks escaping from logging engines, or by setting fire to the slash that is left after logging and allowing these fires to get beyond control.
Behavior of Forest Fires. Fires behave differently, once they get started, depending upon the character of the timber, the amount of wind, and the degree of inflammability of the forest cover. Ground fires burn the inflammable dry grass, needles, dead twigs, etc., on the ground; crown fires are much more severe and, being usually fanned by a heavy wind, run through the tops or crowns of the trees; brush fires burn the bushes and dry shrubs from 5 to 10 feet high; timber fires consume the entire forest—crown, stem, ground cover, and undergrowth—and usually occur in timber that stands close together.
Losses by Forest Fires on the National Forests. The results of forest fires naturally vary with the kind and intensity of the fire. Crown and timber fires do the most damage, and ground and brush fires do less. While the ground fires and brush fires seem to do very little damage to the valuable timber, still they may greatly reduce the productive power of the soil and destroy the watershed cover. Severe ground fires may kill valuable timber by girdling the trees. The great fires of August, 1910, which swept northern Idaho and western Montana destroyed millions of dollars' worth of timber and 85 human lives, and cost the United States $839,000 for fire fighting. These were timber fires and they occurred for the most part in valuable stands of dense timber.
The forest fire losses on the National Forests for the last 9 years show a very great and gradual reduction of losses due to forest fires. In 1908, the total loss through fires was $451,188 and in 1909 it was $297,275. In 1910, the year of the great fires in Montana and Idaho, there were very heavy losses in timber and human lives, due to an unusual combination of dry weather and high winds. But in that year the fire organization was not complete; it had never really been tried out. In this year the organization received its first severe test, and while it did the best it could with the available men and equipment, the situation in Idaho pointed out conclusively the weak points and the short-comings. The proof of these statements is found in the statistics of the next 5 years, when the average total loss for 1911 to 1915, inclusive, was $293,000, and, it must be remembered, several of these years were equally as unfavorable, so far as dry weather and high winds were concerned, as the year 1910. During these years, however, the fire fighting organization had a good chance to be tried out thoroughly; for, as is quite evident, experience is the greatest teacher in this kind of work. During the calendar year 1916 the fire losses reached a new low level, compared to other years, the losses amounting to only $198,599. In 1917 they were higher.
Figure 35. A forest fire lookout station on the summit of Brokeoff Mountain, elevation 9,500 feet. Lassen National Forest, California. Photo by the author.
Figure 36. Turner Mountain lookout station, Lassen National Forest, California. This is a 10 ft. by 10 ft. cabin with a stove and with folding bed, table, and chairs. The forest officer stationed here watches for forest fires day and night throughout the fire season. Photo by the author.
The Forest Fire Problem Stated. Having seen a little of the causes, behavior and results of forest fires on the National Forests, it is comparatively easy to state the forest fire problem as it occurs on the National Forests. Briefly stated, it is this: With the funds, organization and equipment that are available, the aim of the Forest Service is to keep the area burned over each year (and therefore the damage done) down to an accepted reasonable minimum. But the problem is not as easily worked out as it is stated, due, largely, to a great many uncontrollable and variable factors which cannot be foreseen in advance, the most important of which are the weather conditions. As has been said before, there are two general ways of keeping the area burned over down to an accepted reasonable minimum: either prevent the fires from getting started (as in the case of those started by human agencies) or, after they get started, to get to them with men and fire fighting implements in the shortest possible time after they are found. The former is called fire prevention, and the latter fire suppression or control. How the organization of the National Forests solves these two problems is of the greatest interest.
Fire Prevention. The measures employed for fire prevention may be either administrative, legislative or educative in nature.
The most important administrative measures employed to prevent fire are those that aim to reduce the amount of inflammable material in the National Forests. This is done in many different ways. The free use timber policy enables Rangers to give away much dead timber, both standing and down. Timber operators cutting on the National Forests are required by the Forest Service contract to remove dead snags, which are a fire menace, from the timber sale area. Where there is fire danger, all slashing resulting from such sales must be burned or otherwise disposed of. While grazing is usually not considered a measure to prevent fires, still grass lands that have not been grazed over become very dry in the fall and are a dangerous fire menace. Wherever it is feasible, old slash left by lumbermen on private lands adjacent or near to the National Forests are burned, when the fire can be confined to a small area. Another administrative measure is the reduction of the causes of fires by a patrol force. Forest Guards travel along the highways where there is most traffic and most danger. Their presence often is enough to remind campers, hunters and fishermen to put their camp fires out before leaving them. These patrolmen mix with the people and, if necessary, remind them in a courteous way to be careful to extinguish their camp fires before breaking camp.
Most of the necessary legislative measures for preventing forest fires already exist. The National Forest force is seeking merely to obtain a strict enforcement of existing laws. Railroads are required to use spark-arresters on their locomotives and to provide for keeping their rights-of-way free from inflammable material. Logging camps must also prevent the destruction of National Forest timber by fire by using spark-arresters on all logging engines. The Forest officers are ever on the alert for the detection and apprehension of campers for leaving fires unextinguished and incendiaries for starting fires willfully. These careless individuals are arrested by them without warrant, either under the Federal laws, if the fire occurred on National Forest lands, or under the State law, if it occurred outside of government lands.
Educational measures are for the purpose of educating both the local forest-using public and the general public who may travel through the Forests in the careful use of fires in the forests. Forest officers, especially Rangers, come into personal touch with local residents and users, that is, the ranchers, stockmen, business men, loggers, campers, hunters, fishermen and others. Such people are often reminded by personal appeals by the Forest officers. Most of them have learned by this time, because of having been called upon to help fight fires at one time or another, and having gotten a taste of the result of other people's carelessness. Many written appeals are also sent out by the Supervisor and are slipped into the envelopes when grazing permits and other official documents are mailed. One of these written appeals, and probably the one that has been used most widely, is known as the six rules for the prevention of fires in the mountains:
1. Matches.—Be sure your match is out. Break it in two before you throw it away.
2. Tobacco.—Throw pipe ashes and cigar or cigarette stumps in the dust of the road and stamp or pinch out the fire before leaving them. Don't throw them into the brush, leaves, or needles.
3. Making camp.—Build a small camp fire. Build it in the open, not against a tree or log, or near brush. Scrape away the trash from all around it.
4. Leaving camp.—Never leave a camp fire, even for a short time, without quenching it with water or earth.
5. Bonfires.—Never build bonfires in windy weather or where there is the slightest danger of their escaping from control. Don't make them larger than you need.
6. Fighting fires.—If you find a fire try to put it out. If you can't, get word of it to the nearest United States forest ranger or State fire warden at once. Keep in touch with the rangers.
Besides these kinds of appeals, many kinds of fire warnings are posted at conspicuous places along roads and trails to remind the public to be careful with fire in the Forests.
Figure 37. A fire line cut through the low bush-like growth of "Chaparral" on the Angeles National Forest, California. This "Chaparral" is of great value for regulating stream flow. The streams are used for water power, domestic purposes, and for irrigating many of the largest lemon and orange groves of southern California.
Figure 38. A forest officers' temporary camp while fighting forest fires. Near Oregon National Forest, Oregon.
An attempt is also made to reach the general public, that is, those living outside the local communities, but who occasionally travel through and use the National Forests. Many hundreds of thousands travel through the Forests every year by automobile or by other conveyances. These people camp in the Forests, fish, hunt, and enjoy the cool climate and beautiful scenery. Before they start on their trips, that is, while they are still in their home towns, and also while they are on their way, many means have been devised to reach them. They are confronted with newspaper advertisements, folders, booklets, and other printed matter. In towns and cities, public meetings, lectures, exhibits, expositions, county fairs, commercial clubs, and the chambers of commerce, all help, either directly or indirectly, by one means or another, to inform the people of the great fire danger on the National Forests. Even the letters sent out by the District Forester and the Supervisors have written appeals affixed to the outside of the envelopes by means of a rubber stamp. In short, every possible means is used to educate the public that uses the National Forests and in whose interest, in fact, the Forests are being maintained and protected.
Fire Suppression. So much for the problem of fire prevention. In case a fire does get started, and there are thousands of them on the National Forests every year, the problem, as has been said before, consists of getting men and tools to it in the shortest possible time, in order to keep the damage down to the lowest possible point. To do this, a vast organization has been formed by the Forest Service, which is not unlike the Minute Man organization of Revolutionary days. A brief outline of this organization and how it works when a fire starts will give my reader a still better idea of what the Forest Service is doing in forest fire protection. But before speaking of this organization, a few preliminary matters are of interest; they deal with the manner of distributing fire protection funds, forest fire history, and the study of weather conditions.
How Forest Fire Funds Are Distributed. It devolves upon the Forest Supervisor and also the District Forester to apportion the appropriation allotted for fire protection in the most economical and efficient manner. First of all, the money is allotted to the various Forests in proportion to their needs. These needs are measured by the size of the Forest, the value of its resources, the length of the dangerous dry season, the fire liability or the amount of money loss in case of fire, the fire hazard or the degree to which an area is subject to fire danger, the difficulty of prevention and control and many other factors. These same factors are employed to apportion the Supervisor's allotment of money to the various Ranger districts on his Forest.
Probably the most difficult factors for the Forest Supervisor to appraise on each Ranger district are the fire liability and the fire hazard. Fire liability has to do with the amount of damage a fire could do if it got started. Valuable timber needs protection most of all, and the value of the forest is determined by the kind of trees in it and the density of the stand. Fire hazard is usually expressed in terms of risk. The Supervisor asks his Ranger if the risk on a certain area in his district is high, low, or medium. Risk depends, of course, largely upon the character and inflammability of the forest cover and the presence of human causes. Dense forests involve greater risk than open, scattering trees; government forests interspersed with private holdings containing much old slash have a high risk factor; and government forests near sawmills, large towns, and along railroad rights-of-way also have high risk factors. All these matters must be considered, in order that each area on each Ranger district gets just enough money for fire protection and not a bit more.
Figure 39. Putting out a ground fire. Even if the fire does not burn the standing timber, it kills the young trees and so weakens the larger ones that they are easily blown over. Wallowa National Forest, Oregon.
Figure 40. Forest officers ready to leave a tool box for a forest fire in the vicinity. Such tool boxes as these are stationed at convenient places on National Forests ready for any emergency. Arapaho National Forest, Colorado.
Forest Fire History. Very important also in fire protection are the studies which the Forest Service is carrying on, dealing with forest fire history. For many years back, records have been kept on all fires: their causes, area burned over, date of the fire, damage caused, the exact location of each fire, the cost of fighting it, the total number each month and each calendar year, and many other data. More recently records have been kept upon still further details connected with each fire, such as: the time elapsed between the start and the discovery of a fire, between the discovery and the report to the proper official, between the report and the beginning of the actual work of fighting, and the time required to put the fire out. Intensive studies have been made also upon the length and character of the fire season on each Forest, for it is important to know the maximum length, the minimum length and the average length of the fire season. These data show how much extra help must be hired for fire patrol and fire fighting, and during what periods the greatest damage is done, based both on acreage burned over and by the number of fires. Studies of this kind yield positive information on what areas of each Forest are particularly liable to lightning fires, to camp fires, and to incendiary fires. With this knowledge the Forest Supervisor can plan and distribute his men and funds more intelligently; they tell him during what period he can expect the most trouble, and therefore must have the greatest number of fire fighters at his command. It is scientific study like this that is doing more than anything else to solve the fire protection problem in the Western States.
Relation of Forest Fires to the Weather. In coöperation with the United States Weather Bureau, the Forest Service studies weather conditions in relation to forest fires. Weather forecasts have been sent to each Forest Supervisor throughout the fire season, informing him of the probable weather conditions. The velocity and duration of the wind, the temperature, the precipitation, and the relative humidity are all factors which greatly affect the inflammability of the forest. Forest Supervisors have been informed in these forecasts of what are known as emergency conditions, that is, an unusual and abnormal combination of weather conditions which make fire danger very great. These conditions may be a high wind, low relative humidity, high temperatures, or a combination of the three. When a Forest Supervisor is informed by the District Forester that emergency conditions are likely to exist during the next ten days or so, he immediately sends an alarm to all his Rangers to be especially watchful.
Improvements and Equipment for Protection. After the preliminaries of fire protection finance, forest fire history, and the study of weather and emergency conditions have been worked out, probably the first and most important prerequisite to forest fire protection is a matter already spoken of, namely, the improvements and the equipment. The construction and maintenance of improvements and the possession of suitable equipment is second in importance only to the organization which is to do the actual fire suppression. Roads, trails, telephone lines, fire lines, lookout stations, Ranger stations, tool and food caches, a central supply depot, and many other things are necessary before men can be effective. Each Forest Ranger has use for the following equipment: fire fighting tools, water bags and pails, teams, pack horses, wagons, automobiles, saddle horses, tents, portable telephone lines, riding and packing equipment, and many other special equipment, which must be hired when occasion for its use arises. If a Forest Ranger has not access to this equipment, and few of them have, he has hanging by his telephone a complete list of all the stores, stables, garages, etc., in the neighboring towns and how much equipment each can furnish when called upon.
Forest Fire Maps and Charts. Not the least important bit of equipment, by any means, is the fire map or maps. The Forest Supervisor has a fire map of his whole forest in his office and the Forest Ranger has one of his district (sometimes including the neighboring districts, too) hanging in his cabin, usually posted conspicuously, so that it can be referred to any time of the day or night without delay. These maps have upon them all the available information regarding the country which is to be protected. They show physiographic features, such as topography, creeks, springs, meadows, water, swamps, etc.; vegetative features, such as timber, forage, brush, reproduction, planted areas, regenerating areas, slashings, etc.; such man-made features as roads, trails, cabins, ranger stations, corrals, pastures, Supervisor's headquarters, sheep camps, cattle camps, ranches, camp sites, railroads, logging railroads and camps, sawmills, power plants, towns, villages, etc.; and special protective features, such as locations of men, tools, equipment, tool and food caches, local help, emergency help, fire lines, fire breaks, lookouts, government and private telephone lines, instruments and switchboards, locations of stores, state Fire Wardens, livery stables, pack trains, garages, stage routes, etc. All these features and data are not put upon one map; usually a series of maps are used or some of the information is put on charts or on the border of the maps. In short all this information is put in such form that it is available at the shortest notice for emergency conditions. It makes little difference how it is recorded, so long as the information is available when needed.
Figure 41. A forest fire on the Wasatch National Forest, Utah. Forest officers trying to stop a forest fire by cutting a fire line. Note the valuable growth of young trees which they are trying to save on the right.
Forest Fire Organization. The forest fire organization, whether it be on the whole National Forest or upon the Ranger district, consists of three agencies: the fire detection agencies, the fire reporting agencies, and the fire fighting agencies. All these must work in absolute harmony without interruption of any kind, to obtain the maximum of efficiency. The detection agencies consist of the lookout men, stationed at high, advantageous points which overlook large areas, and the moving patrolmen, who are assigned to definite beats or territory which cannot be adequately reached by the lookouts. Lookout men live in small cabins on the tops of high mountains, and they watch for fires constantly. In regions which have very few high points and which are not suited to that method of detection, moving patrolmen are employed. These men move about on foot, on horseback, on railroad speeders, in automobiles, or in any other conveyance adapted to the country they are in.
When the detectors find a fire they report it immediately to the nearest Forest Ranger or the Forest Supervisor. The Forest Ranger in whose district the fire is located is logically the first man to be informed, but telephone connections and other conditions sometimes alter this procedure. Just because a fire is found in, we will say, Ranger district number one, does not necessarily mean that the Forest Ranger of this district is the proper man to be notified. The fire may be at the very outer boundary of his district and may be much more easily accessible to the Forest Ranger in district number two. In any case it is all arranged beforehand just exactly who shall be notified in case of a fire in each and every corner of a National Forest. Each man in the organization has his duties and responsibilities determined for him in advance and he does his part without being prodded or reminded. The location of a fire in the wild and inaccessible forest regions of the West, which may seem a very simple matter, is determined in a very ingenious manner.
How Fires Are Located. The lookout man, as well as the Forest Rangers and the Forest Supervisor, is provided with identical maps of the Forest. These maps show most of the important features useful in fire protection work, including also the private lands, all government holdings, and the public land survey. This public land survey has divided the land surface into legal subdivisions known as townships, sections, and quarter sections, and it is by these and with reference to these that all features, both natural and artificial, are located. A township is usually a square 6 miles on a side, containing 36 sections. Each section is divided into quarter sections containing 160 acres each, which are further divided (though not by law) into forty-acre squares. The problem, therefore, that confronts the lookout man upon the discovery of a forest fire is to inform the Ranger or other Forest officer where the fire is—that is, in what section it is located, if it cannot be located with reference to some well-known natural feature.
In order to determine in what section or quarter section a fire is located, each lookout point on the Supervisor's and Rangers' fire maps has a transparent circular protractor mounted on it. (A protractor is a device by which angles are marked off; it consists of a circle upon whose arc the degrees from 0 to 360 are indicated, 0 degrees being equivalent to North, 90° to East, 180° to South and 270° to West.) The center of the protractor is the lookout point. A piece of black thread is fastened to the center of each lookout point, so that it can be stretched across the arc of the circle and the degrees read off. The other end of the thread has fastened to it a thumb tack or similar device, so that when the thread is stretched to read a certain angle, it can be fixed at that angle. The maps of the lookout men are usually fastened or permanently mounted upon a table which is oriented (that is, the top of the map is turned toward the north). The lookout men have sighting devices, usually alidades, which are placed on the map, by means of which they sight at a fire; but the bearing of the fire is read from the angles marked on the edge of the map, which is in reality a large protractor.
By these devices a fire is quickly and accurately located. When the lookout man sees a fire, he gets its bearing from the map by means of the sighting device. He telephones this bearing to the Ranger, or, in many cases, to the Supervisor. Immediately the Supervisor goes to his map, picks up the black thread attached to this lookout point, stretches the string, and, having marked off the bearing, pushes the thumb tack into the map. In the meantime, another lookout, perhaps two more, have sighted the same fire. The black threads from the other lookout points on the Supervisor's map are stretched and fixed in a similar manner. The fire will be found to be at the point where two or more of these black threads intersect. This is only one of the many ways which have been devised to locate forest fires; there are other methods, but all are based upon the same principle.
Figure 42. A forest fire running in dense underbrush on one of the National Forests in Oregon.
Figure 43. Men in a dense forest with heavy undergrowth clearing away brush to stop the fire as it is running down hill. Crater National Forest, Oregon.
The Fire Fighting Organization. The organization of men who do the actual fire suppression must be an elastic one, adequate to meet the needs of a Ranger district or of a whole National Forest, or, in some cases, of an entire administrative district, comprising as many as 25 to 30 National Forests. The Forest Guards and Forest Rangers are known as the first line of defense in this war against forest fires. Upon them falls the brunt of the work of fire suppression. The second line is composed of local stockmen, ranchers, and logging and sawmill crews. When these prove insufficient in number, the large villages and towns are called upon, and the last resort is the labor of the cities and the United States Army. Thus, in the case of a very large fire the organization of the Forest Service is modified to cover not only each and every National Forest, but also entire States. In case of a very large fire, every available man from each Forest is sent to take his place in the organization. Expert fire fighters are sent direct to the fire. Other Forest officers are sent to the large towns and villages to act as quartermasters. These men hire fire fighters, entrain them, and fill orders for food, bedding, tools, and other equipment. Other quartermasters at the scene of the fire check shipments of supplies, check the time of fire fighters, approve accounts, hire transportation, and perform similar duties. Special disbursing agents are sent to the scene to pay the men. In short, everything is done to dispatch as quickly as possible the necessary men, food and equipment to the fire, and to do it in accordance with the prearranged plan for such emergencies.
Forest Fire Coöperation. A very important part of the plan of fire protection on the National Forests are the coöperative agreements entered into between the Forest Service and private individuals or companies. Such coöperation may be in the form of building improvements for fire suppression, furnishing men in case of fire, furnishing lookouts or patrols, furnishing equipment, and, in fact, in connection with any of the necessary means for fighting fire. This coöperation has been of mutual benefit. One National Forest may coöperate with one or more neighboring Forests or with sawmills, power plants, logging camps, or railroad companies. Coöperation may also be with a well-organized Forest Protection Association, of which there are a large number in the Western States. These coöperative agencies agree to send a large force of their men to fires on the National Forest in their vicinity, and the Forest Service reciprocates by sending men for fires occurring on their lands, which may threaten National Forest timber. Often coöperative agencies enter into agreement to build jointly with the Forest Service certain improvements, such as telephone lines, lookout towers, or trails, which will benefit public fire protection as well as private. Many sawmills and logging companies who operate on or near the National Forests have agreements with the Service, by which they suspend all operations and send all their help to fires which threaten National Forest timber. All timber sale contracts of the Forest Service provide for coöperative fire protection.
Fighting Forest Fires. The most important requirements for successful fire suppression are: quick arrival after discovery, adequate forces of men, proper equipment, thorough organization on the fire line, skill in attacking, and careful, systematic patrol after the fire is thought to be out. All fires, whether large or small, require generals to lead the attacking forces, and the strategy of fire fighting can only be learned after long experience on the fire line. A cool, level-headed man is the greatest necessity in an emergency, for it is as disastrous to get too many men as it is too few. A few men that know how to attack a fire are worth a great deal more than a great many that are inexperienced.
Figure 44. Fire in a Lodgepole pine forest in Colorado. Arapaho National Forest, Colorado
Figure 45. A mountain fire in "Chaparral," five hours after it started. Pasadena, California
There are different kinds of fires, depending upon their size, their intensity, and the nature of the country in which they are burning. And there are as many different methods of fighting fire as there are kinds of fires. Some fires, such as grass fires or those burning in the needles and litter in the forest, can be extinguished directly by being smothered or beaten out. For this purpose Rangers sometimes use their saddle blankets, when nothing else is handy, but usually wet gunny sacks, boughs, and tree branches are used. Often, if it is available, sand or dirt is thrown on the fire with a shovel. Surface fires are a little more difficult to extinguish. They are more intense and more swift and consume brush, young growth, and fallen dry trees. These usually cannot be attacked directly, but must be controlled indirectly by the building of a trench or a fire break, or by a system of back firing. Trenches are fire breaks in miniature, usually from one to several feet wide. Fire breaks or fire lines are broad belts from 30 to 50 feet wide, which are cleared of inflammable material, not so much to stop the fire when it reaches this belt as to furnish a safe area from which fire can be fought and, most of all, from which back firing can be started. These lines or belts are usually built along ridges. If a fire starts on the lower slope of a mountain and the wind carries it up the mountain toward the fire line, the only hope of stopping the fire at the top of the ridge at the fire line is to start fires on the top of the ridge, which will burn down the slope and meet the original fire coming up. In rare cases, as, for instance, in the Idaho fires of 1910, the fires get to be so large and swift that all methods of attack prove futile and the only salvation is in natural barriers, such as rivers, or a change of the wind, or rain, to extinguish them.
In all fire fighting work, the plan is to surround the fire (if it cannot be beaten or smothered out) by a trench, fire line, or fire break, and to prevent the fire from spreading. In this kind of work, shovels, spades, mattocks, rakes, and hoes are used to move the soil; saws and axes are used to remove fallen trees from the fire line, and in some cases plows, dynamite, and other implements are employed.