2 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



discovered and reported by the plane. Two other fires which were of 

 no consequence, one being on a farm outside of the patrol area, were 

 discovered and the machine flown over them to ascertain what they 

 were and whether they were worth reporting. Fires can be dis- 

 tinguished at forty miles, and a safe estimate of the area of visibility 

 is within a radius of twenty miles. In times of forest fires either 

 within or without the patrol area when the smoke is very heavy,- flying 

 is out of the question, so that it will eventually be necessary to have 

 very large areas under intensive protection methods in order to 

 eliminate smoke as far as possible. 



It was found that a Johnson fire pump and 1.500 feet of 1^-inch 

 hose could be easily transported anywhere within a radius of 150 

 miles within 2j4 hours. This would mean that the equipment could 

 practically always be landed within two or at most three miles from 

 the scene of any fire occurring in the district patrolled. The writer 

 made many flights and sighted one fire and knows whareof he speaks. 



The machines used were Curtiss seaplanes, type HS2L, with 330-hp. 

 Liberty motors, and arranged to seat three people. The machines 

 weigh about 'Sy^ tons and are remarkably sturdy and steady in the air. 

 A forced landing, owing to an accidental cut in the insulation of the 

 ignition wiring through which water entered making a short circuit 

 and stopping the engine, was made on land, so gently that the occupants 

 of the machine hardly felt it touch the ground and without other 

 damage to the machine than the breaking of the lower wing floats due 

 to the rocking after landing. 



This type of machine requires a mechanic as well as a pilot to operate 

 the valves from the reserve gasoline tanks and to maintain an even 

 feed of fuel. The observer sits in a cockpit in the front and has an 

 Ideal opportunity to see the country, to take photographs and to make 

 sketches and notes. All this can be done easily and comfortably on a 

 small drawing board held on the knees. Altimeter and compass are 

 within easy view. 



Owing to the impossibility of making artificial landing fields and the 

 absence of natural ones, the airplane is entirely out of the question for 

 use in Eastern Canada, but the great number of lakes, 6 per cent of 

 the total area, makes the seaplane the ideal machine. The only draw- 

 back to the use of the HS2L type is the expense of the fuel, 27.6 U. S. 

 gallons of gasoline and 1.8 gallons U. S. of oil per hour being required. 

 On the other hand the advantages are, sturdiness, stability, even in 

 very high winds and on "bumpy" days, safety of personnel, wide 

 cruising radius, and the ability to maintain a uniform altitude and fly 



