The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-23
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director,
Wsahfne fon D. G.
LESSON OF THE FOREST FIRES.
Washington, D. C.


Washington, d. c.. Oct. 2o.-Forest
fires like the one which has just de-
{ .oyed over a thousand lives, several
whole towns and millions of dollars
worth of timber in Minnesota are pre-
ventable. By expanding sums OF money
less than the average annual property
damage by forest fires in the United
States. this damage could be greatly
reduced, and uncomfortable fire rem
dcred almost impossible.
This is the comment of experts in
the bureau of forestry here upon the
disaster in the northwes-. It is not a
reflection upon Minnesota, which has
done as much as most of the states in
the way of forest fire prevention; but
rather upon the attitude of the Amer
| lean public. which, altho periodically
Mortified by these great disasters,
seems not to see the need for some
adequate national measure to prevent
them.
1t is impossible to prevent forest
fires from starting. The Minnesota
fires may have been started by enemy
| incendiaries, as has been suggested;
| but they may just as probably have
been started by careless campers, by
lightning. or by sparks from rail-
road locomotive. A similar great fire
occurred in 1910, when there was no
reason to suspect any malicious
agency. After the 1910 fire the leg
| islatures Of western states appropri-
ated large Gums for fire preventing,
and the Weeks law, providing for fed<
eral cooperation with the states in
| this work, was passed by congress.
But the lesson OF the fires was quickly
| forgotten, and no adequate system of
protection developed, as the present
holocaust shows.
The thing needed is national sys-
tenn of patrols and fire fighters strong
m h la
tinguish it before it reaches dangerous
proportions. AS long as a forest fire
is only few acres in extent, putting it
out is merely a matter of men and
tools. But when it has reached a GER
| tain size. the heat of the great fire
generates winds which carry it for
ward with SUCH speed and fury that
| 1t is beyond all human control.
The national forest service has per-
fected a system of fire detection and
control BY means of lookouts on ele-
waited points, signals. telephone lines.
caches of tools, and organiza tions of
volunteer fightersswho are ready to
respond to an emergency call, it has
reduced danger from fires on many of
| the national forests to a minimum.
| But the sums which the forest service
| is able to spend on fire protection are
not even sufficient to safeguard all of
the national forests, much less those
1
states and some private owners have
taken adequate steps to protect their
forests, and some have not. Thus,
well patrolled forests are constantly
menaced by the danger of fire spread
| ing from others which are not ade-
| quately protected. 1t is obvious that
| the uniform protection, which would
really safeguard the forest regions,
| cap be obtained only thru some sys-
| tenn administered and supported by
I NJ r. Il,
which the national government ought
| to undertake for the further reasons
| that the national forest service has
| already perfected q system of forest
| fire protection, and that forest fires. by
| denuding watersheds, affect the flow
| of navigable streams. At a glance it
would seem unfair that prairie state
| like Missouri should contribute to the
| support of a national organization for
! fighting fires. But as a matter of fact,
| Missouri would suffer heavily from the
destruction Of forests in Montana, be-
cause the headwaters of the Missouri
river are in that state. There is a di-
| rect connection between forest fires in
the northwest and floods in the south
west.
| This fact is recognized in the Weeks
law, which empowers the federal gov
! eminent, THU the forest service, to
| cooperate with the state governments
| in the prevention of fires on water
| sheds. The only trouble eth the
| Weeks law is that it does not provide
| enough money to make such a system
| really effective. The sum of 100000
4 year, when distributed among all of
| the forest states, does not accomplish
| much. Congress seems not only I'M
| able to grasp this fact, but even re-
| fuses the forest service adequate sums
| for the protection of the national for
| est reservations. On some of these,
! where good systems of reads and
| trails have been developed, the danger
| from great destructive fires is almost
| nothing. But on others, especially in
the wilds of the northwest, it is i'm
| possible for the forest service to con-
| troll fires with the means at its dis
posa1.
In some of these great wildernesses,
| the development of an adequate sys-
| tenn of fire control is necessarily a
slow and gradual process. For ex-
| ample, in western Montana a visitor
recently saw a forest fire in the dis
lance, and asked his companion. a for
est ranger. why he did not go and ex-
| tinsuish it. The ranger replied that
it would take him just nine days to
reach that fire by a. roundabout route.
which would include going to a rail-
| road. travelling a hundred miles, and
approaching the fire from another
direction.
Altho the forest service must work
out slowly the problem of conservation
in such wild sections as western Mon
tana, it could accomplish a great deal
more than it does with adequate ap-
preparations. Every year congress is
forced to appropriate from half mil
lion to a million dollars in the def
cheney bill to pay for the fighting of
fires which have occurred during the
year, and which the forest service has
not the means to fight in its regular
lappropria ton. If this money were ap-
propriated for preventive measures in
the first place, many of the fires would
never occur A city council which al
lowed buildings to burn down. and
Iafterward appropriated sums to pay
the citizens who had tried to extin-
guish the fires with buckets and gar
den hose. but failed to provide for an
| adequate fire department, would hard
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