The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-13
THE FOREST FIRE MENACE
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
By Frederic j. Haskin, Director.
Washington. ID. c.


forest service here show that the
northwest is having one 90 the worst |
fire seasons in years The fact that
millions of feet of spruce, which is
the best wood for making aeroplanes,
are destroyed or threatene+ has Great
ed widespread suspicion that enemy
incendiaries are to b.ame Meanwhile
the forest service has suspended inn
portant constructive worry to fight
fires In Montana and Northern Ida
no the fire fighting army has num-
bered two thousand men and it is
costing fifteen thousand dollars day
to keep it in the field At that, it is
merely preventing the spread of the
damage to some extent. Nothing but
the fall rains can PVT the tires out.
Not only national forests, but great
areas of privately owned timber are
involved in these fires. In fact, they
are the greatest monaco, for during
the past fifteen years the forest serV-
ice has built up a system of fire fight
ing that keeps the number of fires
originating upon the reserves down to
a surprisingly small number and
small figure for damages.
In the matter of fires, prevention
| is of the first importance, and the
finding of fires before they have at
| tanned dangerous size is second; but
ganization and a method ready for
the great fire that gets BEYOND con-
| troll
| The U. s. Tool Boxes.
| Every year the forest service IS ex-
| tending the network of roads, trails
and telephone lines. and every addt-
tional mile of these means of com
munication is a mile of fire protection.
| For by means of these warning can
be given and the fire reached.
Along many of the trails are tool
| boxes containing the axes, mattocks
| nj
a fire. They are simply marked U. g.
| property, and no one molests them
THE tool box" is now landmark
often referred to thruout the forest
| reserves.
Even more important than roads
| and trails is a fair and reasonable
attitude on the part of the people who
live on and about>the forests; and in
| this matter too there is great ana
rapid improvement. In many parts
| of the west the forest service has
countered hostility. 1t has varied all
| the way from open attacks on forestry
officers and the deliberate setting of
fires to disregard of fire warnings
and a surly refusal of cooperation
| Everywhere, now, this attitude Is
| passing and only in a few of the most
remote regions does the forest service
| have to contend with vandalism or
| open hostility.
Naturally, when it comes to fighting
a big fire, the kind and amount of
| cooperation that the service gets
| from the people is the deciding ia ctor
in the struggle. The chief difficulty,
| of course, is in organizing a large
force on short notice The officers
| of the Taos national forest in New
| Mexico are particularly fortunate in
| this regard. On the edge of the ma
| tional forest is the pueblo and reser-
| walton of the Taos Indians. In addi-
| ton to rich farm and pasture lands,
| they own a splendid timbereG canyon
1s1l1 -srrl.+
| forest. The forest service has an
agreement with these Indians by
which they are to fight all fires in
the forest in return for the pro-
| lection given their timber lands by
1 the government. Is
| When a fire breaks out on the Taos
| forest the supervisor merely sends to
| the war chief of the Pueblo (who is
still elected every year, altho the
| Pueblo has not been at war for two
generations) and tells him how many
men are needed. The war chief
| shouts an order from. the roof of the
pueblo and within a few minutes that
number of Indians mounted on their
fleet PONIES, are off for the scene of
the fire.
a Lonely Job for the King Pin.
! The king pin of the fire fighting
system is the fire guard. During the
seasons of danger he lives as near as
possible to the top of some high peak
from which the faintest tinge of
smoke may be seen on any part of his
Jurisdiction. He has one of loneliest
jobs in the world.
The most important equipment of
the fire guard is a map of the forest
which is fastened that the direc-
tions upon the map are actually those
of the compass. Fastened to the point
from which the guard is making his
observation is a needle moving like a
compass needle upon a pivot.
When the guard sights a fire, he
carefully aims this needle at it, then
phones to another guard or ranger
station. This second man will also
take a line on the smoke, and will
communicate it to the first man. By
a simple process of triangulation
(Which you can figure out for your
self either of them can now mark
the exact location of the fire upon the
map. This information is telephoned
to headquarters, and men and tools
are rushed to the spot
Many a little fire is put out by a
few men with picks and shovels In
fact most of them are thus caught
: young, and never cause the slightest
| excitement. The exciting fights. like
that now going On in the northwest,
are fortunately the rare exceptions.
The forest supervisor will usually
have an understanding with certain
settlers to come to his aid in this
, emergency, and with more or less
speed, depending upon distances and
the competence of the men a band
will be gotten together and dispatched
to the scene of the fire in automo-
bile, if roads permit-if not, on horse
back This is where roads and trails
come in, and they are apt 20 be the
deciding factor.
Game Flee Before the Fires
The fire, if a crown fire, will most
likely be rushing up a canyon, which
I'draws like a flue. The -irst attempt
; will probably be to check its rush BY
dyna hitting the trees and earth in it,
; path. If this move succeeds, the
fire will be checked shortly. But il
. the fire leaps the gap and gets toe
wide front to be covered in this way
there is nothing for the fighters to dc
' but fall back and begin choEping
. dynamiting and digging a swath which
the flames cannot cross. AS their tasl