Arizona republican., 1916-08-06

going up on skis, over a glacier.
 Lookout Frank G. Lewis who is on the Peaks, has served for thice years as fire ;uoxout on Elden Peak. east of Flagstaff, and on account of un-
 usual ability for this position and
 his experience was chosen for the
 Peaks experiment. Lewis is gradu- ate of Yale and was for many years
 in the consular service in South
 America. His records on the Peaks
 will be carefully checked by forest
 officers with the reports and records from other lookout points to find out
 whether he is able to pick up all
 smokes and how soon he can pick them up, as compared with other fire lookouts. The whole system has
 been worked out by the forest ser vice as a quick and efficient method of locating at once every smoke that strats in the forest. for they realize that time is everything with q forest fire: if they can discover and locate a fire when it is just starting and is therefore small. and get a fire fighter to 1t, il means that the dam age from that fire will be relatively very small. If the fire is allowed to get a good start, in the pine nee | dles, brush and other inflammable
 material that one finds all through the national forests. 1t would take 1 large number of men to put it out, ! and cause a great deal of damage, and cost great deal of money. With
 the unusually high winds this spring the forest rangers have had their hands more than full, for on the Co., conino forest alone, whose head
 quarters are at Flagstaff, there have occurred to date 110 forest fires. These 1l0 forest fires have burned over only $50 acres. because the forest i rangers were able to get to them at once and put them out before they
 spread much The woods are unus- ! ually dry, and a spark may spread
 and cause a fire covering thousands i of acres. and causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to the fine 1 pine timber.
 1 Forest officers report this season as being one of the worst, if not the worst. that they have had to contend
 with in Arizona and New Mexico for fifteen years Large and destructive fires have occurred near Prescott and 1 Williams. having got a start by the very high winds that prevailed during that time, so that it would have talk en an army of men to control them
 The Coconno forest is using two motorcycle patrolmen for main roads leading out of Flagstaff. These men
 are mounted on Indian machines and discover and put out camp fires left by campers and freighters, as wei
 as fires that start from a carelessly
 thrown cigarette butt or cigar stub for with all the precautionary signs
 and warnings. and all the educatona
 work done by the forest rangers
 there are still many hundreds of us
 CTS of the National forests that hay,
 not yet come to realize that protec- ton of the forest from fire mean: more money for the states. more money for roads and schools in ever! , state, and more enjoyment and recre 7 iatio for the people themselves. Ove forty per cent of the receipts iron , the National Forests of Arizona com' , back to the counties of the state fo , good roads and schools, and if tn } timber is protected from fire, natur 5 ally there will be timber to sell. an'
 thus bring in money for roads am schools. Forest officers estimate tha over GO per cent of the firest fire that they have to put out are cause by pure thoughtlessness and care lessness of people travelling throug the Forests. in other words. caused b
 human agency. large per cent c
 the fires are caused by lighting 1 these the rangers can take care of a [ a rule, and can not be prevented bu huma nagency fires are preventabl, : and should not occur and would nc } lhappen if people would only reali2 y for moment what a fire in tn Il forest means.