“I am not so sure about that,” said Cecil. “As soon as it is known that the airplanes are patrolling the forests, people will be more careful not to start the fires. The planes will have a great psychological value.”
“Perhaps so,” replied Smith. “The first thing that I want is a liaison officer from your service to stay right here and represent your department. We cannot talk your language and you can’t talk ours. In a short time the liaison officer will be able to talk both.”
“That’s all right,” said Cecil. “I think that I will have Simmons stay to start you out right and later replace him with someone else. Does that suit you, Earl?”
“Suits me O. K.,” replied Simmons.
“With Simmons here,” said Smith, “we can start a set of maps which will show the fire situation at a glance. All the fires can be marked on the map in different colors.”
“I have a suggestion to make in that connection,” said Cecil. “In order that a standard set of colors be used, we should all have red pins to designate new fires that are verified; yellow pins for new fires not verified; green pins for permanent smokes such as logging camps, sawmills, etc., and black pins for fires that are burned out. In that way there will be no confusion.”
“So be it,” replied Smith. “So much for the maps and the liaison officer. Now my next suggestion is that we send out two patrols a day from here, one going south to Medford and the other north to Portland.”
“That will be all right,” said Cecil, “provided that these patrols cover the areas having the greatest fire hazard. Let’s work it out on the map.”
It took some time to work it out satisfactorily, as Cecil wanted to get the patrol to cover the greatest possible amount of timbered area and Smith had to be sure that the routes covered areas where there were at least an occasional emergency landing field; that the routes would normally take but two hours to cover; and that they would end near a sub-base where the planes could be serviced with gas and oil. The patrols finally agreed upon were:
- From Medford over the Cascades to Eugene and return over almost the same route.
- From Eugene over the coast range to the west of the Willamette Valley and end at Medford. To return over approximately the same route in the afternoon.
- From Eugene over the Cascades in the morning to Portland, and back over the coast range in the afternoon.