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fire-line. This same principle is used to check fires burning through 

 young growth and brush where it is difficult to get at the flames. A 

 narrow lane is cut through the brush ahead of the fire. This gives a 

 space where the crew can work without hindrance. As soon as the fire 

 approaches, it is attacked by all the crew with the various fighting de- 

 vices with which they may be provided. 



Sometimes the front of the fire is so fierce that it is impossible to 

 meet it directly. One method, under such circumstances, is to direct 

 the course of the fire. The attack is made on the sides near the front, 

 separating the forward portion of the fire from the main wings. A 

 part of the crew attacks the forward part and others run down and 

 extinguish the wings. The front of the fire, attacked from the sides, 

 is forced gradually and constantly into a narrower path. Usually the 

 front can be directed toward some cleared space, road, pond, stream, 

 swamp, or fire-line, when it will be checked enough to admit of a 

 direct front attack. Sometimes by this plan the front may be rapidly 

 narrowed by working from the sides, until it is at last entirely ex- 

 tinguished. The plan of giving direction to the course of the fire has 

 often been successfully carried out when the fighting crew is too small 

 for a direct attack. 



When fires gain such headway that it is impossible to stop them by 

 direct attack, no matter how numerous and efficient the crew or com- 

 plete the equipment for fighting, back firing becomes the only means of 

 stopping the fire. It should, however, be used only when it is abso- 

 lutely necessary. One of the commonest mistakes in fighting fires is 

 to overestimate the rapidity of the fire and the difficulty of putting 

 it out. 



If it is found that a back fire is necessary, a favorable point is 

 selected directly in front of the fire, from which to set the new fire. 

 This must be a point where it is safe to start a back fire, such as a road, 

 fire-line, stream, or swamp. The leaves are ignited at points five feet 

 to a rod apart for a distance not greater than the estimated width of the 

 head of the fire. These small fires gradually meet and form a con- 

 tinuous line, eating back against the wind. A part of the crew is 

 stationed across the road or other break from which the back fire is 

 started, and put out at once the small fires which may result from the 

 sparks blown over from the back fire. 



The meeting of the two fires stops at once the head of the main 

 fire. It is usually possible then to attack the wings with the ordinary 

 methods of fighting. It is necessary to attack the wings at once, par- 

 ticularly if there is a strong wind, for otherwise each wing of the old 

 fire would soon form an independent fire with a well-developed head. 

 It is necessary, also, that a number of men be stationed where the orig- 



