The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-09-10
FOREST FlIi FIGHTING
By Frederic j Hasl,in,



This week and next are the most
dangerous in the span. Of the year from
the standpoint Of those who have
charge ofg the protection Of the ma
itional forests from IRE.
1t Is the dry season in the forests,
The dead leaves lie like finder on the
! ground and the fall rains have no. yet
come. The vacationist. the hunter,
1.-THE angler are abroad in the wilds
an dthe matches for their pipes and
1.-THE sparks Of their campfires always
threaten to unleash the are demon for
i career OF destruction.
Organization Perfected.
Quietly the government has been de-
veloping toward perfection fire fight
IN organization that is the greatest
1 in the world. Fro mthe stupendous
mountain ranges OF Alaska TO the
sayannas Of Florida, from the water
shed Of San Diego to the White Moun-
tains where the president has gum
mer home, the government owns -,
tensiye forests that are in danger Of
IRE at almost any time but particu-
larly during September. Each year
theer are 5000 fires to be fought and
put out nthese vast areas. One OF
these may be but smouldering log
that has caught from q campfire and
sent out teptacle or two into the
ground brush. Another may be such
q IRE as ragged in the tops Of great
forest trees ip Idaho in 1910 and left
4 q blackened scar sixty miles wide and
200 long and beneath the ashes Of It
the remains Of seventy eight men who
had died In the fight for It's control.
The forest service has labored for
ten years to make its fire fighting or
ganizatio Ineffective. Today 1t is as
i well ordered as a military organize
ton ,as thoroughly drilled, as thought
fully prepared In advance Of the COM
Ing Of the fire. IN those last ten years
the service has built 5000 miles OF
road, al,000 miles OF trails, $4,000
miles Of telephone lines, 1t has es-
tahlished lookouts on thousand
mountain peaks and trained them into
scientific observers. It has built net
works Of frebreaks that are itnended
for the time when it may be necessary
to turn the demon back upon himself.
Training School.
Eevery forest supervisor has his
school for the training of lookouts,
Il guards and rangers. That school
fights theoretical campaigns Just as
does the Army War College.
The forest supervisor jas schoolmas-
ter, sticks a tack in map Of the re-
gion for which he is responsible.
Theer is a lookout attending this
school whose station is enarest that
tack. 1t Is his turn to recite. He must
tell what action he would take should
he discover q fire in that location.
He states that he would sight at
the fire an instrument he has on a
table top into which is built a map.
Thus would he be able to draw a line
on the map through his station and the
DIRE. Then he would TELEPHONE to an
other lookout station, calling the at
tention GIFTS occupant to the outbreak
of the fire. That lookout would also
extend a line through his station and
through the fire. He would tell the
first lookout Of the angle by that line.
The first lookout would lay the line
down on his map. The point at which
the two lines met would be the loca-
ton of the fire.
Then the lookout would call up the
ranger cabin aud inform his superior
that there was a fire at the given
point. His responsibility would have
ended.
Reserve Army.