The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-19
PROBLEM OF FOREST FIRES IS SERIOUS Enormous Toll Is Exacted
 Every Summer ARE NOT PREVENTIBLE Carelessness Always Provides the Spark and Only Hope of Rangers
 Is to Check the Spread
 of the Flames
By JONATHAN WINFIELD

Washington. March 1S-(Special)- )-The forest fire problem becomes more serious with every passing year. It has now reached the proportions of a national peril.
 Despite the vigilance of forest experts and the expanding appripriations of Con- gress, the same enormous toll is exacted by wind and flame every summer involv-
 ing an enormous drain upon our national resources. Methods of preventing and checking the fires are improving rapidly, now that the gravity of the situation Is realized but the magnitude of the task is pacity to cope with.
 The huge losses In the northwestern states last summer on the forest reserves caused the greatest apprehension to of ficials of the forest service. Striving to find remedy they are now also probing into causes and placing responsibility where it belongs. Weather conditions, aided by human carelessness and negli- gence, tell the story. Nature. at certain periods of the year makes conditions for great, encompassing flame ideal in the im- mense woodlands. .4
 First of all nature denies them forest rain. For weeks at time not drop of moisture falls from the heavens, and the trees become as dry and parched as kind ling wood. Then the hot, .scorching winds come to speed tn spark onward, and whip the flame into fury wherever it appears. That the spark will come, either from the fire of some careless camper or in some other fashion can be counted upon. For est experts in the field, dreading the fire is they do, recognize that 1t Is inevitable in the long drought of the mountain sum- mers of the northwest They can do lt- tie to prevent forest fires; the main effort is directed towards checking them.
 In spite of all the bitter experience that has been gained from forest fires,
 1t is frequently impossible to compel pri- vate corporations and individuals to take proper precautions against them. Last summer timber was being cut by lumbermen on a tract of land lying near the boundaries of national forest in the Cascade mountains. There was no ques- ton about their ownership of the land, and the United States merely made a re- quest that, in view of the existing condi- tions operations be suspended until rain fall. The lumber company curtly refused. The forest was very dry, with the needles, twigs and branches of the felled trees turning to finder as fast as they came down. Sparks were being thrown far and | wide by the Inducements logging locomo- lives and donkey engines, the lumber | jacks were smoking and an atmosphere | of carelessness and indifference prevailed.
 All this at the foot of a richly timbered slope belonging to the United States gov ernment. a f.G
 Then a Pacific east wind came. On the | oocta hoo or6 ind nC
 humidity; on the Pacific coast it brings
 on its crest all the heat and dryness of | the Utah and Nevada deserts. The wind | blew from the new slashings straight up
 the mountain side toward Uncle Sans
 own woods. Then fleme came, and before
 the first telephone message reached the l forest supervisor, thousand acres had been swept away. For days the battle with the fire ragged. When it was over, and the government started to count the
 cost, 1t was found that several hundred
 thousand acres of young trees had been
 ruined, and the loss in timber had been | about seven million feet The actual ex- penses of the fire fighting were about
 $2600. The full loss incurred by both the United States and the lumber companies
 was so vast that its mere recital in dollars
 and cents would be appalling.
 l No less than 20 fires the same forest l
 passing locomotives. Many of the fires
 might have been prevented by the use l of spark-arresters, or by the use of pe- | troleum as fuel.
 There are many ways of putting out for | est fires. On the Pacific coast last sum | mer 26 were put out by the rangers with out assistance, and before they had spread | far enough to do any great harm Any
 of these fires, had they been left to ex-
 tend without interference, would proba-
 bly have started great confiagration and done damage beyond estimation. Ten others were fires of more importance, so that the rangers had to have help, but they, too, were extinguished before hay ing done any appreciable harm. Others
 were fires of still greater magnitude.
 The rangers fight ground fires with wet
 blankets, by shoveling dirt upon the flames, and in other ways. Throughout all the great forest reserves there are great alleyways and lanes cut through the thick of the trees, to arrest, if possi- ble, the spread of the fires.
 Dynamite and water are used, the form
 CT to create a clearing across which it IS hoped the flames will not be able to pass
 All of the forest reserves are under manned. They are not equipped as they | should be for efficient fire fighting. If proper measures had been taken by the government at the request Of the forest
 service there is little doubt that the re-
 cent great fires in Minnesota and Idaho
 which caused such fearful loss of life and
 property, might have been avoided There has never been a time when the forest | service had the financial resources to fight fires adequately, and 1t does not have them now.
 The United States is learning by expe-
 rience, however, and every year sees an
 increase of protective measures, and in l the manning of the forests
 1 The forests are a part of a great na- | tiona1 heritage, which the country can i'll afford to lose through the encroachments
 of fire or of greedy interests.