TACKLING TAMALPAIS 



891 



trails are slightly below the tops of the 

 ridges they are out of the prevailing 

 winds, thus affording safe opportunity 

 for backfiring and, in many instances, 

 stopping the slow down-crawling fire 

 without the assistance of back-fires. 

 The trails vary in width from eight to 

 thirty feet, depending upon the nature 

 of the locality, the heighth of the brush, 

 and the fire hazard. The brush is cut 

 off level with the ground, piled and 

 burned. For the present, at least, 

 grubbing out the roots is too expensive 

 and the new growth mil have to be cut 

 back every two years. The average cost 

 has been $114 a mile. 



Fire fighting tools, brush hooks, 

 shovels and axes, for a total of 600 men, 

 are distributed in boxes located at con- 

 venient points along the trails and 

 roads. Each box, also, contains lanterns 

 and five gallon water bags. 



Mounted patrolmen are employed 

 during the dry season, from the middle 

 of May to the first of November. These 

 patrolmen are supported by numerous 

 volunteer fire fighting forces with head- 

 quarters at the little towns around the 

 mountains. Each of these forces is 

 thoroughly organized under definite and 

 well understood leadership. There is 

 in each instance a captain of fire fighters 

 with a couple of assistants and squad 

 leaders, and the commissary and other 

 routine business of the organization is 

 tended to by an agent who, in case of 

 fire, sticks to his post in town and car- 

 ries out instructions from the field. 

 The leaders and agents, as well as the 

 patrolmen, are deputy state fire wardens 

 mth power of arrest and authority to 

 compel men to fight fire. 



As before mentioned, the prevention 

 of fire is the most important and by far 

 the most difficult job to be tackled by 

 the association. Although the causes 

 of fire are similar to those on the Na- 

 tional Forests — matches, tobacco and 

 camp fires — it should be remembered 

 that there are a hundred people roam- 

 ing about the Tamalpais country for 

 every one on the National Forests. On 

 Sundays and holidays it is not at all 

 uncommon for 5,000 people to tramp 

 over and camp upon a district not 

 exceeding 10,000 acres, and as a part of 



this throng is made up of the careless 

 and irresponsible element from the 

 city the fire risk on such days is ex- 

 tremely high. To fight this condition 

 a great deal of publicity has been given 

 to the work, stress being laid upon how 

 easy it is to prevent fires from starting 

 and how difficult and costly to stop 

 them after they have spread beyond 

 the control of a few men. Thousands of 

 fire warnings have been posted along 

 the trails and at camp sites and these 

 seem to have served a useful purpose. 

 Here is one sample: 



Here is another warning which proved 

 effective. 



DANGER! 



PREVENT FIRES 



1. Break your match in two before 

 you throw it away. 



2. Stamp out lighted tobacco before 

 you leave it. 



The camp fire nuisance has been well 

 controlled through a system of permits. 

 Fires are allowed at certain designated 

 places only where the ground has been 

 made as nearly fool-proof as possible, 

 and even at these places camp fire per- 

 mits are required. The public has not 

 shown the slightest objection to such 

 regiilations. It is considered better 

 policy to control the building of camp 

 fires than to endeavor to prohibit them. 

 General prohibition is both easily pro- 

 claimed and quite impossible to enforce. 

 Regulation is thoroughly effective. 

 Moreover, there is no good reason why 

 camp fires should not be permitted at 

 certain locations and under suitable 

 restrictions. Such a privilege adds 

 greatly to the enjoyment of the park 

 lands. 



The most interesting part of the 

 associations' work is the financial or- 



