The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-02-08

Z Sdii reserve
Resolved Further. That the board
/ recommends to the Governor that all
the land within the said described
boundaries be approved by him TO be
set apart as forest reserve. subject
/ TO all private rights and titles. and
/ that all owners of private lands lying
/ within said boundaries be requested To
! cooperate with the Board of Agricul-
! ture and Forestry in rese1vfng all of
| said lands for forestry purposes. in ac-
| cordanee with the terms of Chapter IS
/ of the Revised Laws of Hawaii
/ FIRE FIGHTING ON TANTALUS
| The report of the Division of For
| estry for the period from January Il
/ to date was an interesting one and call
| ed forth some vigorous comments from
| the board members concerning the for
! est fire question. The portion of the
report dealing with the recent burning
over of ten acres on Tantaius is
| quoted:
"on Monday afternoon, February 5.
L was notified about O'Clock from
the office Of Alexander & Baldwin that
forest hre was burning on Tantalus
near Senator Dickeys new house. and
| $1,000 ~~0DA0N$'AA~~ was Iaklng
three laborers from the nursery 1 at
once started for Tantalus WALKING I'D
by the Round Top trail with two men.
! while the third with the buggy con-
tanning additional tools went around
| by the road.
Arriving al the fire a few minutes
after four O'Clock, I found that Sem
ator Dickey, with seven or eight Jana
nese laborers, had got it under con-
! troll, though fire was still snouIdering
| in number of standing trees and old
| logs, which, had a wind sprung uu
would have been sources of danger to
| :he adjoining forest. Senator Dickey
! informed me that his man was burn
| ing brush near his new house, that the
! fire had got away from him, and that
although he had tried hard to stop it,
! II had still spread. A back fire had
been started. but the flames got
| around II and rendered it useless
Requesting Senator Dickey to take
his men and work around the makai
edge of the fire putting out the places
where it was still burning, 1 worked
in the other direction extinguishing the
| fire in the old logs and stumps on the
side toward the mountain, where there
was more danger of the fire again get
ting away About five o'clock the Japa-
nese, thinking that with our coming
there was no further need for them
knocked off and returned home The
| laborers from the nursery continued to
work until half-past six, when it be-
came too dark to see any longer we
then returned to the city. Early on
| Tuesday morning two of the laborers
went back to the fire and worked all
| the forenoon in putting out the fire at
points where it was still smouldering
From Senator Dickeys account the
! fire started about noon, though I did
not stop long enough to discuss de-
tails with him. After leaving Senator
| Dickey at about half-past four o'clock
| l did not see him again. The men sent
up on Tuesday morning report that no
one beside themselves was fighting the
fire then. Senator Dickey apparently
did all that was possible to stop the
fire while it was actually burning by
j getting all the available men TO work
! fighting it.
In this connection 1 wish to again
point out that the danger of a forest
fire does not cease when it's active
| progress has been stopped AS long as
there remain spots where the fire con-
or in the humus. there is danger. for
if a wind springs up sparks from such
spots may be carried considerable dis
t2nces TO start new fires in adjoining
| sections. Really. the critical part of
forest fire fighting comes when the fire
is thought to be under control, for then
many persons, thinking it is out. go
away and leave it unmatched. 1t is
IN a r.a
is out until one is certain that the fire
in every spot is completely extin-
guished.
The area burned over is altogether
in the Manoa watershed. AS the fire
was mainly in dry grass and weeds,
and was stopped before getting into
the forest, comparatively little dam
age was done. only a few small kOa
trees being burned
The report was ordered filed
FOREST FIRES TOO PREVALENT.
Mr.. Giffard thought there We're too
many fires near Honolulu. There had
been a law passed forbidding careless
ness in setting out fires in the last ses-
sion. but no one had been prosecuted
under it. Senator Dickey had done
what he could after this fire had got
away. but it should have been watch
ed at first. There had been gross
carelessness. He tMr. Giffard) had
warned the Senator's man about fires,
but the man only needed the warning
until he had got out of sight. The man
acted under the Senator's orders The
credit for putting out the fire belonged
to the men employed at the various
Tantalus residences. Unless some ac-
ton We're taken regarding these fires
people would think the board a lot of
dummies.
Mr.. Thurston thought Mr. Dfckey
guilty of exceedingly reprehensibIe
conduct.
Mr.. Giffard reported having stopped
a Jap last week who was firing a brush
heap as big as a small house. The
Inns MaIn in The IN hi If Setting OUT