Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-01
Ehrntng Uhat

|
State Forestry Department gave a
first exhibit of its new forest
fire film in n Harrisbl rg theater
the other day. To say that it
is a thriller" is putting it mildly. The
two-reel motion picture of a forest
hre that actually burned was taken in
May on the Mont Alto Forest by the
Department of Forestry in co-opera-
ton with the Nitagraph Company of
America. The scenario was written
by two of the State foresters. all tho
actors in the picture. with one excep-
uon, are men of the Pennsylvania For
estry service. and every scene of the pic
ture but one office scene was staged by
the Department in Pennsylvania. Not
an inch of the two reels is faxed.
The picture is story of forest pro-
lection in Pennsylvania as it is and as
II might be. The first part shows
present PENNSYLVANIA conditions. The
picture opens with lone ranger in n
high treetop. looking over a vast
forest area in fire season. Rangers
are few, and no money is available for
modern steel towers, so the ranger
adds to his effectiveness as much as
he can by using high trees for obser-
NatorteS. While the ranger is in the
tree camper some distance away
breaks camp and starts for home He
uOSS not eStlnSulSn MS camp nre
properly, and, to make assurance dou-
bly, sure. he throws his cigaret butt
into the dry leaves and passes serene
~ out of the story. But his work goes
on just the same. The camp fire
spreads, the cigaret does its duty no.
oily, and in few minutes half a noun
tain side is blazing. The ranger sees
the smoke, and, hoping that he can
handle the situation alone, goes to the
fire but finds it far too much for one
man. And he is five miles from the
nearest help and there are no tele-
phone lines He runs to the forester's
| once, rough shack at the edge of the
settlement, and arrives exhausted.
| The forester hurries out for help, and,
| IN the course of an hour more, man
ages to get five men. With this made
quate crew, and with scarcely any
| tools but axes, they start for the fire.
| now raging contiagration. with a sin
| gle team, and over the roughest of
| mountain roads. They realize that the
| hours between the time the fire started
and the time of their arrival on the
scene have given it tremendous ad-
vantage, but they attack it gamely
| nevertheless. Time and again they
win a little ground only to lose it be-
! cause they are too few to guard what
| they have gained. The fire sweeps
past their defenses time after time.
and they are forced to fall back and
| SNaA I All ONSI' Alter lHTSe days OF the
| seNerest and most disheartening kind
| of work rain mercifully puts an end
to the fire-after half a township has
been devastated.
The second part is a perturbation Of
the modern firefighting system Penn
sylVania might have. Money makes
the difference. The picture opens with
a ranger on a steel tower equipped
! with telephone. The camper has
| been educated to be careful with fire
in the woods. He eXtinguishes his fire
properly. and empties his pipe ashes
| in damp mineral soil. But accidents
will happen, and sparks from a burn
ing house in the forest start a fire.
| With his binoculars the ranger sees
II almost at once, and telephones it's
direction to the forester. Reports are
received from the other rangers, and
the fire is located at the forester's Of
| fee without the stirring of a foot
Help is summoned at once by tele-
! phone, and in little more time than it
| takes to tell it twenty men are on their
way to the fire on horseback and in au-
tomobiles, equipped with modern
| tools. The roads they traverse have
| been transformed into real highways,
and as a result of efficient methods
all along the line the men arrive at
| the fire while it is still small. Be
cause of their adequate equipment
ana NUMBER there are no "harebackS"
| this time, and in a very few hours the
fire is over and the men are on their
way home. And the final contrast is
that only twenty acres are burned in
stead of several thousand.
| t..
Many exciting incidents occurred
while the picture was being taken. A
miniature whirlwind came up a few
minutes after the fire started. and the
| flames travelled over the tons of the
pines in the nearest approach to a
| crown fire the South Mountains have
! seen for many years. Several of the
| men had narrow escapes, and one,
who was forced to run through the
| flames. was unconscious for several
| hours. The camera man, in an effort
to get a near view of the fire from a
wagon, was almost encircled by flames,
and was forced to run for his life. He
succeeded in getting a Closeup of a
narrow escape of part of the fighting
crew.