East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-08-22

causing greater destruction than dur
Ing any year in history peculiar in
terest attaches to pamphlet on that
subject by Chief Henry S. Graves, OF
the forest service. Mr.. Graves takes
and characteristics of the fires and
the best means of fighting them.
City dwellers with their steam en-
gines and high pressure warer supply
will find in the pamphlet a strong
contract in the equipment maintained
and means employed in the great for
ests of the west.
Wherever dirt can be used.' he
says men should be provided with
long handled shovels. If water is
available, buckets should be provid-
ed and, where possible. bucket pumps,
which throw a stream about 20 feet
Under most conditions it is desirable
to have mattocks and iron rakes, and
there should always be axes to aid in
clearing brush or cutting through
down timber and old tops. These inn
plements should be kept in a conveni-
ent place for fighting fire. Proper
organization for this protection in
ciudes an adequate equipment for the
fire-fighting force.
"A very good plan is to have caches
at convenient points in the trails or
at the lookout stations, containing
fire-fighting tools. In some cases in
the mountain regions tools are kept
in a special pack outfit ready to be
thrown upon hirses and taken at once
to the fire. Such special outfits usu-
ally include shovels. collapsible pals,
axes, mattocks, ropes and in some
| cases fire extinguishers and a small
quantity of provisions"
AS to the methods of fighting fires
Graves says:
Small surface fires may often be
beaten out. This is possible when the
fire is burning chiefly in a dry leaf
litter or short grass. Where there
are tops or piles of dry brush, or the
fire is burning through thick brush
or underground, beating is very diff.
ficult
There are various devices for beat
ing. A blanket, coat, or riding slick
er is often used. A gunny sack is one
of the best implements for beating
particularly If it can be wet from
time to time. A handful of green
brush serves also very we'll for a beat
ing device. In beating out fire, one
strikes the fire with a sideways sweep
driving the flames and material back
upon the burned ground. A direct
stroke scatters the fire.
The best way to extinguish rum
ming fires is to throw sand upon the
flames. This method is, of course,
practicable only when the soil is fair
ly clear of rocks and loose enough for
ready digging. When the fire is rum
ming in the open woods, in pine need
les, a single shovelful of sand, prop
erly thrown, will extinguish over 10
feet of fire.
Loose loan is also very good. but
not so effective as sand. Heavy soil
with clods is difficult to manipulate
Frequently sand or loose loan can be
dug up in spots, but it is too stony
to secure it all along the line of fire.
Fighters must then supplement the
use of sand or earth with beating or
other methods.
Where. on account of the accumu-
lated debris the flames are inter-
mittently too severe for beating, wa
ter is used if available. Water usu-
ally has to be brought from some dis
tance: it must therefore be used very
economically. The best way is to
deaden the flames by a little water.
and then beat them out with a gum
ny sack or other device.
when water must be brought over
mountain trails special water sacks
are used, which can be slung on a
pack saddle.
Ground fires, burning in the deep
layer of organic matter, are exceed
ingly difficult to extinguish. If the
layer is deep, trenching is the only
! practical method of stopping the pro-
gress of the fire. Such a trench,
| which has a width at the bottom Of
one foot, will enable the fighters to
stop an ordinary ground fire, especi-
| ally If the work can be supplemented
by the use of water or sand at the
| trench.
Grown fires which burn through
the crowns of trees, are always ac-
companied by surface fires. Crown
fires stop when there are no longer
inflamable crowns through which the
| fire will run, or when there Is no
| longer any material on the ground to
carry the surface fire. An ordinary