The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-08-21
BY SIDNEY ESPY.

oV SlONcY 6SFY.
Washington, Aug. 2O-In protect
ing forest reserves of the United
States from fire the telephone has be-
come an instrument of salvation. and
there are many cases on record in
forestry bureau wher this modern
appliance has saved innumerable lives
any many hundred thousand dollars
worth of timber.
The installation Of the telephone
service in the national forests, where
there is naturally much isolation. is
counted on, not only to prove of
great convenience to the men engag-
ed in the administration of these vast
tracts. but also to save property and
lives. Former Chief Forester Pin
the patrol system of the forests and
during the four or Ave years they
have been in use, the system has
been extended until today there are
more than 600 miles of telephone
wires strung through the various re.
serves.
Those in charge Of the reserves
consider the prevention and control of
forest fires the most important and
the most difficult of the work that
since fires annually cause more loss
than all other destructive agencies
combined The records show that the
destruction Of timber by Are amounts
20 about eEn mn mn ooch x,eor ooA
that at least fifty deaths occur an
nually from forest fires. Statistics
show too that more than 1000 persons
have persisted in forest fires in the
United States during the nineteenth
century.
Experience has taught the officials
in charge of the forestry bureau that
cope with forest fires after they have
been fully started. When they get
a good start and have favorable con-
dition, such as a brisk breeze and
dry weather, the flames sweep
through the forest and over sur
rounding country without meeting
any great resistance. Therefore, the
officials OF the bureau have deter
mined that the only possible way to
control these fires is to prevent them
that is, attack the fire at its incep-
ton.
1t Is at this point where the tele-
phone gets in its work and has DEM
onstrated itself as an important fac
tor as a machine of salvation. AS a
means Of preventing fires and to dis
cover those which have not gained
any amount of Roadway, thousands of
men have been employed annually by
the government az rangers and pa
trolmen. They are assigned to dis.
tricts which they are called on to pa.
troll, but the work Of this patrol sys-
tenn did not really become effective
until the telephone was introduced.
AS the condition presents itself to-
day. forest ranger leaves his cabin
in some secluded valley to patrol the
territory allotted to him. His trails
are well kept. his telephone is in or
der, with call boxes arranged every
few miles along the path and fire
lanes, and at observation towers. He
reaches a spot where a party of pros
pectors or others have been camping
and have left their camp FIRE without
extinguishing it. Since their depart
ure and prior to the appearance of
the ranger the fire has extended along
the ground in the dry forest carpet
and assumed proportions too great
for him to handle alone. though his
efforts may be sufficient to check the
flames for a short period. The ranger
can remain and fight the fire alone
and wait for the arrival of other rang