The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-04-10

out in all it's details and gave the
men much information on the hand
ling of Flaw enforcement" cases,
according to Mr.. McLaren.
Forest Rangers must also be
'near-lawyers' in order to handle |
fire trespass cases successfully. The
Forest Service has entered upon a |
strict enforcement of the laws pass
ed for the purp Sc of penahzing
people, who are careless with fires
in the Forests, continued District
Forester Peck.
The National Forest Rangers
meeting closed Friday evening altar
full day spent in the discussion of
all phases of fire suppression and
the tools, methods, men, plans, ETC.,
used in the Lake States National
Forests.
Each Ranger now selects leaders
in his various Forest communities
| and enlists their cooperation in the
suppression of fires. These cooper
ators are called "key men" and are
trained to fight fires, hire men, buy
supplies ETC., until the Ranger can
get to the fire and take charge.
Many examples of excellent work
J performe by "key men" were re-
lated by District Forest Inspector
John McLaren, who again acted as
chairman of the meeting.
"Zoning" the Ranger Districts
and working up the fire plans for
| the Districts by Zones" was re-
commended by A. L. Richey, Super
visor of the Superior National For
est and he was instructed by Mr..
McLaren to try out this system and
| report on it. 1t seemed practicable
for the Superior Forest, where the
Zones" might not be much smaller
than the average Ranger District on
some of the smaller Forests, accord
| ing to Richey.
Signs telling motorists whom to
I notify in case they found fire
larger than they could handle, were
recommended by Supervisor Mar
shall and it was decided to try them
on the Minnesota National Forest. ]
Accessibility of the various parts
of the Forests was discussed and the
relation of the road and trail sys-
tenn to fire suppression. F. A. Kel-
ly, Assistant Supervisor of the
Superior Forest spoke briefly on
the 'six hour" system for that For
est, by which any part of the For
est may be reached in six hours r
less with fire fighters. At present
ten to fifteen percent of the Forest
can be reached in this time. Much
remains to be done in the way of
roads and trails to bring the For
est to this desired maximum of
time accessibility.
Certain we'll established traditions
in the U. S. Forest Service were
given by Fire Chief McLaren.
Among them was: "Do not wait un-
til the next morning to start for a
fire, unless conditions make it inn
possible to start that night" These
out by the Foresters. Among them
was the one of travelling to fire
with canoes in the dark. DO not
leave a fire until it is out" dead
and buried as the Foresters say,
was another tradition pointed out.
"Start fighting fires at daylight"
was an important rule also mention
ed by McLaren Mr.. Kelly brought
out the point that in handling large
fires the matters of organization
were equally important with the
technique of fighting the fires. On
this point he was seconded by
Assistant District Forester E. w.
Tinker and Supervisor Richey.
Analysis of past fires were enter
ed into enthusiastically by the
Rangers and much benefit was de
rived by all in this frank discuss on
of their work and various methods
of attack used in suppressing forest
fires, according to Supervisor Mar
shall of the Minnesota Forest, who
has had many years of successful
experience in the Sire game"
Before the meeting closed, tests
of use of the fire charts, maps, etc.,
were made by having Rangers or
ganize the action on imaginary
fires in country with which they
were unaquainted.
The Foresters started for their
stations Friday night and Saturday
morning, mainly in automobiles re-
cruited among them. District For
ester Peck, Assistant District For
ester Tinker and Supervisor Richey
left for Denver and ST. Paul.
Assistant District Forester Thomp-
SON started for the chief Forester's
Office III Washington, d. c., where
he will work on a special detail in
connection with Forest Management
matters for several weeks.
Mr.. McLaren will remain in Min
nesota for some time, going over
fire matters with Supervisors Mar
shall Richey, and R. G. Schreck at
East Tawas, Michigan, and assisting
in handling the fire game during
the spring season.