Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-07-16
AIRPL.ANE PATROL
FOR FOREST fires
Federal Forest Service Is Making
Experiments With Army
Machines.
FORESTER Tells ABOUT trip
Gives interesting Account of Expert.
ences Together with Observations
as to Feasibility of This
Method of Fire Detection.


Washington, d. C.-Airplane fire pa
troll of the national forests by army
machines was begun as an experiment
for the forest service recently. The
first report from forester has, just
come to headquarters here after an
exciting observation flight from Mather
Field made over the southern patrol
route in California, covering portions
of the EldoradO and Stanislaus forest
preserves. .... "pt.t 49," e..
The trip was taken by Assistant Dis
trict Forester How for the collection OF
data as to the feasibility of this novel
method of fire detection; what should
be done to fight the flames, If pos
sible from the plane; how alarms may
promptly be given; what style of plane
or balloon is best adapted, and what
additional apparatus may be necessary
to make successful this attempt at
more effectually safeguarding remote
end inaccessible stretches Of practi-
cally UNEMPLOYED country from the
scourge which annually destroys thou
sands upon thousands Of acres of tim
Der rapidly becoming well nigh price
less.
Tells Stirring Tale.
Forester How not only covers all
these interesting points, but tells
stirring tale of adventure in doing so.
After describing his preparations for
the trip, he continues:
"My pilot was Sergeant Mckee, who
is one of the army flying instructors.
The plane we used was Curtiss JM-1
with an OX-5 motor. There are no con-
trolls in front, so all I had to do was
to sit strapped to my seat. We start
ed about nine o'clock. / had heard so
much of persons becoming nauseated
that was expecting to feel funny, but
l never had that kind Of symptom.
My impression was that we were stand
ing still, when In fact we were going
70 miles an hour. We flew up the
American valley to Placerville; thence
to Chinese, ten miles southeast of So
nora. H. ..w 49,. ....... -,..... -..,.
con the trip we saw five fires, all of
which were outside of the forest boun-
diaries. The largest was near Placer
vile and had been burning a week.
"The country is so rugged that a
landing could not have been made to
fight fire without crash. The pilot
agreed to this and steered to the west
of the peak instead of to the east. and
by doing this, we missed seeing some
Of the country the patrol Is expected
to cover. A forest patrol by aircraft
is more hazardous than the flying that
is usually done. ,..'
"My pilot made me understand that
our trip scared him more than any
ether trip he had ever made, simply
because he could not make his plane
attain the elevation necessary for rela-
tive safety. He said he would take no
&c so would mean that he could cover
only portions of the forest which could
be seen from the lookout points.
Getaway Extremely Difficult.
"In landing at Chinese for luncheon
we broke our tail skid, but were able
to replace it. Our getaway was ex-
tremely difficult, apdtI did heap of
thinking. Returning we made a d.
rect flight to Mather Field at an ele-
walton of 5000 feet. When about half
way the pilot said he was going to,
make a straight dip. He had made
q series in the morning Of so to 20 feet
on an angle. This time he shot down
for 500 feet. .tE. .,,..
"This was quite thrilling, but moth
ing to the tail spin he put the ma
chine through in descending to Mather
Field. l had no warning and felt as
If we were going down series of
corkscrew curves at terrific rate. The
earth looked like an ocean during a
heavy sea. We dropped 1900 feet In
this manner and then gracefully vol
planned to the field within hundred
feet Of the hangar. Our total flight
time was about. four hours and the dis
lance covered $50 miles.
"Fires have already been detected
from airplanes that have not been
picked up by the lookout man. There
is no question In my mind that it is
the most feasible method of prompt
fire detection. believe, however, that
the expense of establishing such pa
troll would be prOhibitiye for the for
est service. 50
81 am convinced more than ever that
the dirigible with helium gas will be
the type of ship we shall use In the fu-,
ture. I predict that within five years
our present system of lookout patrol
will practically be thing Of the past
and also that the suppression of forest
fires will commence Immediately after
discovery. In other words, the fire
fighting forces will accompany the OBJ
server in dirigible. When fire is
discovered one or two men will climb
down and put 1t out. There will then
be different methods of fire suppress
sion than we now use. 1t will be pos
slble to carry large tanks of water aid
motors to pump 1t on fire. Chemi-
calls, perhaps, may also be used"
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