Why did Dean hesitate to start a fire when his uncle was away?
If the boughs had been green or wet would they have burned as quickly?
Did you ever see a fire in the grass or woods, running along like a race-horse?
How do you think these fires are started?
Why are fires most dangerous in the summer and fall?
Forest fires are started from bonfires, by hunters, campers, fishermen, or lumbermen, or by mischievous and careless persons. Fires should never be started unless the ground is cleared around them, and at a safe distance from any building or woods. They should never be left unguarded.
Forest fires have become so serious that many states have appointed Fire Wardens, whose duty it is to patrol the forests.
Watch towers have been erected, from which observations are taken, and in case of fire, alarm is spread by means of a telephone system.
In some countries avenues, equal in width to the height of the tallest tree, are cut through the forests at intervals of half a mile.
These avenues afford a fire-barrier and standing ground for the firemen to fight the flames.
With the many acres of valuable timber destroyed by fire every year, and the indiscriminate cutting of trees by the lumbermen, our forests are fast disappearing. Children should be encouraged to observe Arbor Day, and to plant trees, so that the custom may become more general, and the forests be renewed.