Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1935-06-20
FIRE TRAINING
CAMPS ORGANIZED

Fire guard training camps for
iookouts and firemen on the 20 ma
tlonal forests Of Oregon and Wash
.ngton will be in fun swing by the
asst ten days of June, according to
U. S. forest officials. The average
duration of these training camps is
three days and attendance ranges
rom 80 to 100 for each forest
All prospective fire season en-
ployees of the forest service will
oe put through a rigid course of
instruction and practical training
n the technique of fire location
and fire fighting, according to the
forest service. Last year it was pos
'lble to try out some of these train
ng camps on actual forest fires.
"Spotting fire and describing
its exact location to the dispatcher
Ind fire chasers is the job of look
outs and involves the use of the
compass and fire finder, say forest
officials. Familiarity with the maps
and landmarks of the country is al
so essential for lookout, it Is
said. Finding the fire from te look
outs description and adopting the
most efficient methods of putting
1t out, is the duty Of the fire chas
ers who not only have to be able
to use the map and compass, but
must be good woodsmen, familiar
with the country and competent to
handle the equipment and the help
available. Rangers serve as instruc
tors In these fire schools and they
inn turn have been carefully train
ed in method and substance of in
struction.
Fire fighting methods have boon
greatly improved, as the result of
many years of experience over
wide ares. forest officials point out.
This year the forest radio, develop
ed through the regional headquar-
tiers at Portland, Oregon, will be
in more general use. Small nine
| pound sending and receiving sets
carried by fire chasers as they are
dispatched to a fire., have been
found invaluable in contracting look
outs from the front and reporting
conditions or obtaining further dir
ections where difficulty is exper-
fenced in finding the blaze.
"The forest service looks at the
protection of these 26 million ac-
res of publicly owned and publicly
protected forest land in Oregon,
and Washington as its most vital
responsibility said G. ]. Buck,
Regional Forester, in commenting
on the Importance of the fire or
ganization. From the highest off,
c1al down, every man has his place
in this annual campaign and the
spirit and devotion to duty of this
fire army is attested each year by
instances Of outstanding personal
sacrifice and occasional loss of life.
Last year a forest supervisor was
burned to death on fire in north
ern California.
Public enemy number 1 is for.
est fire. as we look at it,, contin-
ued Buck. About 40 per cent of
our peonle in Oregon and Wash
ington depend on forest industries
for livlihood and fire Ia the great
est r'epace to future forests. Tv-
orv thousand feet Of timber do
stroyed by fire means that much
raw material taken from the sur
rort of families and every acre of
""nng Growth that Is burned
'aReS Nread a.wav from tho rtGir~
generation. The whole cor,m,Inft-
reems tn rn"orseand more than e---
or the f"ror+anca of cnnrarted
drive against carelessness which
ca"res most of our forest fires"
simultaneously with the trair-
ing IF fire season emnIovens tho
forest service states that the CCC
enrolleos are hntno GIVEN thoro,ph
'nstr""tfors and drill in fra Aeht-
tho This ven CNr hovs will ba nc
cd also In reoistaring visitors to
fhe national forests during per
'ods Of greatest fire hazards