Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-10-18
FIGHTING FIRE FROM THE AIR
BY Frederic 8. IIaskin

washington, Oct. 17.--Hunting for
est fires from airplanes, which has
proved one Of the most effective meth.
DDS OF reducing the fire loss OF timber,
Ia about to be discontinued after sew
eral seasons Of use, because the Army /
Air Service will no longer lend Its l
planes and pilots to the Forest Ser I
vice for this purpose. The aerial for
cat patrol ~ still In existence, but an |
order has gone forth for It's discon- |
tinuance after this year.
Forest Service men are diEappoint-
ed. They ssy that the Air Service is
missing a great opportunity 70 de-
yelop n peace-tine use for planes
which will more than Justify main
tanning a large feet OF them. And
the progress Of aviation Is largely de-
pendent upon the development Of
other than purely military uses for
planes. At the same time the help Of
the planes in reducing the forest fire
damage is most seriously needed. Any
thing that will help in the struggle
with forest fires is invaluable 70 the
whole country.
For the forest fires, the experts say,
are the uncomfortable factor In the
struggle they are making to establish
a permanent wood supply within the
United States. Most Of the continent
has already been denuded Of timber,
and the cost Of lumber and wood prod
ucts has risen steadily as the timber
supply has shrunk Before 1850 most
Of our timber was cut In New Eng
land. In 1870 the center Of the bust
ness had shifted TO Pennsylvania. BY
1890 Il was in the Lake States, where
the supply Of white pine was de-
scribed as inexhaustible. BY 1900
this inexhaustiblo supply had been
SO far depleted that the country was
looking to the South for pine lumber
and now the South is yielding pre-
cedence 10 the Northwest and special
ly TO Oregon. In that region is one
, fifth Of all the standing timber lefi
in the United States. An aerial oh
server can look over all OF this fiftf
OF our forest wealth in one day.
Fires Crucial Factor.
wasteful cutting. leaving nothinI
TO reproduce the forest, is Of cours
Better forestry is now being practis
cd by the great lumber companies
/ and the Forest Service is CAREFUL.
:. conserving the forests under its su
:. pervlsion, so that they viii proyid
:. n permanent lumber supply. Even 50
= the supply is steadily dwindling, an
:, fire is largely responsible for this. Tn
:, fire loss in 1919, was estimated at owe
a billion cubic feet Of lumber, an
while this was high. It was not n grea
= deal higher than the average annus
loss. Besides this. whole towns hay
" been wiped out by forest fires, an
I, many persons killed.
IL The actual mature standing timbe
10 which might otherwise be cut is
ic small part Of what forest fire destroy
IL Il does it's greatest damage in area
m which have been cut. and are bein
X overgrown with small trees. Thes
small trees, which should form III
W lumber supply OF so years hence, gro
q so thickly that fire, once well starte'
n RACES through them as through DIR
=. grass. BY these cut-over fires, til
,e reproduction of our forests over gres
,e areas has been prevented. Moreove
"a a ground fire burns up the soil
,r such an extent that sometimes III
"a area could not be reforested artificia
I ly. There are great areas in tn
Id country which are almost denudt
We of soil, exposing the rocky skeleto
er OF the earth, and supporting nothir
ee but low brush and few saplings.
of The great value OF the airplane,
sn so far developed, is IN making prom
O. discovery Of forest fires. Everythil
depends upon catching them VIII
n they are young. The Forest Servi
he heretofore, has relied for this up
ty liookouts, who communicate wi
he headquarters by telephone. The loo
1y. out is stationed on high mounta
or throughout the forest fire seasC
ce When he sees a column OF smoke.
IaI Is able, with the help of a compa
u and a map Of the forest, to locate
approximately and send the inform
=, = ton to forest headquarters. But hr
~ starting in deep canyons are oft
. invisible to him until they have ;
- taIned d-considerable size. Every no
20 c. nts. A fire that covered a Il
square yards in the morning may
SeFeEAl square ulAteS Al size DS 4lO'
The lookout is especially handicapI
when there are old fires burning
the vicinity and a smoke cloud han
over the whole region. He cannot {
the fame, and a new smoke coluT
-hs is lost in the general fog.
ent Alrplanes Successful.
er- The aerial observer, flying thol
m ands Of feet above the earth. can
nor into every Granny Of it, and can ,
I'M tect a tiny flame that would nee
'ies sarlly be invisible to a lookout.
uD- o. --r in 1919 the Aerial Patrol v
credited with the first discovery
en- 80 per cent Of the forest fires.
The interesting phase Of fire c.
vi troll by airplane is that 1t might
una developed into a means of fight
>" fires. When a fire has been discoy
SEA ed. the next problem is to get n
0u- and tools to 1t. This must be d.
:, N most cases by pack train. A
- is otter discovered several days ira
80 from headquarters, and is almost