A FIRE PROTECTION PLAN 639 



THE CUT-OVER AREAS AND THE TIMBERED LANDS. 



It was considered best to protect these areas by establishing a patrol. 

 The patrol men or fire guards, as they are called, were selected for their fidel- 

 ity, and their knowledge of the region over which they were given charge. 

 Their duty required them to watch over a definite area of land, and to do this, 

 each man' was given a route over which he was required to travel, making a 

 complete circuit to his starting point every four days. The patrol continued 

 during the dry seasons of spring and fall and in hunting and fishing seasons. 

 The routes also changed from the ridges to the stream beds at different sea- 

 sons. The ridges being more carefully watched in the hunting season, and the 

 streams while the fishing season was open. In conjunction with this the com- 

 pany continued a custom originated many years ago, of requiring each fisher- 

 man or hunter to secure a permit to hunt and fish, agreeing therein to assist 

 in every way possible to prevent fire and to report any persons peeling or 

 otherwise destroying timber. The patrols, upon meeting a hunter or fisher- 

 man requested him to show his permit and impressed upon him the necessity 

 of careful tending of his own camp fires. Often a patrol was allowed to se- 

 cure a permit for persons found trespassing without one, and in this way es- 

 tablished friendly relations with all campers, and secured their co-operation. 

 Unfortunately the state legislature of West Virginia passed a law in the 

 spring of 1911 allowing all persons the right to trespass at will upon all un- 

 fenced lands within the state. This law vitiates the permits and likewise 

 makes it impossible for the company to inform itself as to how many campers 

 are on the land or where they may be located. 



In addition to watching the fishermen and hunters the fire guards co- 

 operate with any settlers in their district and arrange to be present when 

 brush is to be burned or a clearing of any sort made. They also post notices 

 along trails and in conspicuous places to warn all against starting fire. 

 Along the routes of the patrolmen there are shelters at different points where 

 they may stay when storms overtake them or pass the night while making 

 their rounds. At the three forks of the Williams River the company has 

 built a house where one guard and his assistant are located permanently the 

 year round. 



At the headquarters of the Gauley another patrol has his house, and 

 on the Cranberry River the patrol uses three or four diff'erent hunters' cabins 

 and has his home beyond the company land. A telephone line is being con- 

 structed to the house on the Williams, which in case of fire will save much 

 time in summoning aid, since this line will reach most of the settlers in the 

 region. Another line may be carried up the Gauley in the same manner. 



The patrol system has been in operation for over a year and has proven 

 very efficient thus far, there having been no damage to timber in any 

 district, with the exception of two small brush fires on the Williams and one 

 on tlie Gauley. These were all located within a short time and extinguished 

 before any damage had been done to standing timber. 



The manner in which these fires were fought illustrates fully the fire 

 guard system. On the eleventh of May, 1911, the guard on the Williams saw 

 smoke rising above the trees two miles or so below his house. He imme- 

 diately sent out his boy to get a couple of settlers further up the valley and 

 set out for the fire himself. Within a couple of hours he had been reinforced 

 by these men, and they surrounded the edge of the fire with a narrow fire line 

 made by hacking out the undergrowth down to the rocks and then beating 

 out the fire with shovels and throwing dirt on it when it reached the line. 

 They had just controlled the fire when over the ridge came the fire guard 

 from the Gauley district with eleven men. They had seen the smoke and 



