176 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



labor for the fire lines, and it will doubtless be much more difficult 

 next summer. There is everj^ reason for adopting, wherever possible, 

 protective methods which will lessen the emergency occasions. 



This danger can be lessened by increasing the regular protective 

 force and putting it in the field earlier hi the season. Last summer 

 exceptionally early drought .brought on a fire season of abnormal 

 severity before the protective force was ready for it. Koads, trails, 

 and telephone lines were still in process of repair to fit them for use 

 again after the winter storms. The summer force of lookout men, pa- 

 trolmen, and smoke-chasers was not fully organized and placed. 

 While putting the protective force in the field earlier involves an in- 

 creased expenditure in all years, in order to be ready for the excep- 

 tional years, the men can always be well employed, first in the repair 

 and then in the construction of improvements. 



With the present labor situation and need to avoid in every possible 

 way the diversion of labor from those activities which are essential to 

 winning the war, it seems a public duty to provide for placing an 

 increased force of fire patrolmen on the Forests in sparsely settled 

 districts, so that the need for drawing from labor engaged on other 

 activities the men needed for emergency fire fighting may be reduced 

 to a minimum. To do this will require an increased initial expendi- 

 ture for patrolmen but in the long run it will result not only in a de- 

 creased expenditure for emergency fire fighting but also in a large de- 

 crease in the damage to the Forests and a big saving in man power. 



Still more important is a recognition of the fact that the Forests 

 can not be economically and efficiently protected against fires until 

 they are well equipped with roads, trails, telephone lines, and look- 

 out stations. Construction crews can be so distributed on the Forests 

 and their work so timed that when fires break out they can readily 

 be thrown into the fight. By attacking the fire problem, in the 

 regions where it is most acute, along such lines as these it is believed 

 that both the emergency expenditures and the use of man power can 

 be materially cut down. 



Both in 1917 and in 1918 exceptionally severe fire conditions had 

 to be met. The first half of the calendar year 1917 was most favor- 

 able, but shortly after July 1 the situation changed rapidly. The 

 usual summer rains failed, and a fire season developed which put the 

 protective force of the Service to one of its severest tests. A defi- 

 ciency appropriation of $775,000 was necessary to meet the emer- 

 gency expenditures. 



The fire menace prevailed throughout the entire West, but, as in 

 1910, the worst fires were in the heavily timbered and sparsely set- 

 tled Forests of northern Idaho and western Montana. In Montana 

 the rainfall during the summer months was less than in any other 

 year of record, and inTdaho it was less than in any other year except 

 1893 and 1910. Similar weather conditions prevailed in Oregon and 

 Washington, and the fire hazard there was the worst since 1910. 



In number, the fires of 1917 exceeded those of 1910, but the area 

 burned over was only 749,877 acres, as compared with more than four 

 million acres in 1910, and the estimated damage to the National 

 Forests was only $1,358,627, as compared with more than twenty-five 

 million in 1910. This was due partly to the fact that the winds were 



