“I never expected, when you drafted me as a fire-fighter, that I would make it a profession, either,” replied Bill, as he shook hands with Simmons. “How did they pry you away from your bailiwick in the woods?”
“We are going to have a conflab here to determine how you people can help us save what’s left of the timber,” replied Simmons. “Cecil is or will be here, and Elliot, the State Forester, will represent the state. I am glad that you came up and hope that you can stop this run of fires that we are having.”
Just then an orderly came up and said: “Captain Smith presents his compliments and requests that you report to him in his office.”
“I guess that this is the conflab,” said Bill. “You had better come along.”
Upon arriving at the office, Bill saw that Smith, Kiel, Maxwell, Cecil and another man, probably Elliot, were already assembled. After introductions and greetings all around, the group settled down to business.
“Gentlemen,” said Cecil, “the fire situation in this state is more serious than it ever has been before. Every day new fires are breaking out, and the old ones are getting larger. The smoke pall is so dense that the lookouts cannot see through it. Accordingly new fires get very large before they are reported and we send out a crew to fight them. Smith, what can you do to help us out?”
“I am not very well acquainted with the fire situation, how you handle the problem, or the organization which you have to work with,” replied Smith. “I suggest that you outline to me on the map your present working organization. Then I will have something to guide me when I make a proposal. If I suggested anything now, it would be like shooting in the dark.”
Cecil and Elliot then outlined on the map on the wall the limits of the National Forests, and marked the location of the forest supervisors’, rangers’ and wardens’ headquarters and the lookout stations.
“The lookout stations, as you can see, are located on the highest points in the vicinity,” said Cecil. “All such stations are connected to the nearest headquarters by telephone. A fire is located from two or more stations. They make intersections on the smoke and read the azimuth. This is reported to headquarters and a fire-fighting crew is immediately collected to go out and fight the fire. If it is an exceptionally large one and is hard to get under control, either the supervisor or warden usually makes a reconnaissance of the fire to determine the best means of fighting it. That must be done on horseback or foot and takes, in some cases, several days. At the present time the lookouts are not of much use on account of the smoke.”
“As I see it,” said Smith, “we can help you in detection and suppression of fires, but not much in the prevention.”