“Airplanes and radio,” replied the ranger. “The airplanes are the eyes of the service and the radio is the tongue. The airplanes scout around above the forests, always on the watch for the slightest sign of smoke or flame. The instant they detect it they radio the news to all the listening stations for miles around. And they’ve grown so skilful in placing the exact location of a fire that in the squadron I was with last year thirty-three per cent. of the fires that were reported were within a quarter of a mile of the exact point stated. Nineteen per cent. came within half a mile, as was determined later by actual surveys of the ground. And none of the others were far out of the way. That’s something of a record, when you think of the height at which the aviators are flying and the wide extent of space that they have to cover.”
“I should say it was,” agreed Mr. Brandon, with a nod.
“And think of the promptness with which it was done,” went on Mr. Bentley. “Within ten seconds after the first trace of fire was discovered, the news was known for all of a hundred miles around.
“The airplane comes in handy, too, for carrying trained fire fighters to the scene of the trouble. I remember once carrying a bunch of rangers in seventy minutes to a burning area. To travel the same distance by land, journeying by canoe and by portage, would have taken three days.
“We flew at a height of three thousand feet, and when we got there we could trace the whole outline of the fire and decided where the firefighting gangs who came hurrying from every direction could best be placed.
“I tell you that was some strenuous job! Up in the air your eyes are burning and smarting from the pungent fumes that come from the trees below, and it is as much as you can do to see at all.”
“Just what was the plan on which the men did the work when they started to put out the fire?” asked Herb, with intense interest.
“First,” Mr. Bentley replied, “the gangs attacked the fire at its most dangerous point, which we pointed out to them. Some trees in the line of fire they chopped down. Then they cut fire lines through the leaf litter to mineral soil, threw sand on burning stumps and used water wherever it was available. They worked by shifts and got their food when they could.
“During that time, while one plane would be directing the work by radio messages, another plane would be busy in bringing supplies and food for the men. The fire lasted nearly a week before it was fully subdued, and, I can tell you, by that time we were all in!”
“It’s too bad that you have to rely so completely on man power,” commented Mr. Brandon. “No matter how much grit’s behind it, the time comes when human muscle has reached its limit and can do no more. It would seem as though in some way the machinery which does so much work in the cities could be used for similar purposes in the forest.”