Standardisation of Instruction. 363 



The organization for fire prevention includes: i. The posting 

 of fire warnings, and other means of educating the people to an 

 appreciation of the danger of fire and the need for care in the use 

 of fire in the forest; 2. Organization of a regular fire patrol; 3. 

 Organization of all co-operating agencies which may be drawn 

 upon in case of fire; 4. Arrangements for securing supplies and 

 for transporting them in case of fire, etc. 



The preparation of practical fire plans is of great importance. 

 The efficiency of the fire protection on the National Forests has, 

 during the last two years, been enormously increased by such 

 plans. Under the fire plan should be considered first the fire map 

 showing roads, trails, lookout points, telephone lines, patrol 

 routes, protection units, tool, caches, ranger stations, supply sta- 

 tions, areas of special hazard, areas of valuable timber, young 

 growth, brush, grass, barren, etc. This map should be correlated 

 with the plan itself which describes the improvements and equip- 

 ment for protection and the organization of the patrol force, 

 transportation of supplies, reserve protective force, plan to secure 

 additional men and supplies in emergency, and to transport them 

 to a fire, co-ordination of protection with administration work, 

 etc. 



Instruction in fire fighting is difficult because a man can never 

 become a good fire fighter without having had practical experi- 

 ence. A mere recounting of the methods of fighting fires under 

 different conditions is good as far as it goes, but the principal 

 work should be of a practical nature in the field. The students 

 should, in the first place, learn how to handle all the various fire 

 fighting tools. They should have practical training in cutting 

 trenches, transporting water, economical use of water, use of 

 sand, etc. They should also be given field problems in calculating 

 on a given tract the probable nature of a fire starting at a given 

 point and with specified atmospheric conditions and state of 

 drought; the best point of attack, the location of trenches, the 

 necessary force of men needed, etc. 



Field work should also include the preparation of a fire plan 

 for a tract of substantial size, say at least 5 to 10 thousand acres. 



2. Protection from Injuries by Grazing. Problems concerned 

 with the control of grazing on the National Forests will naturally 

 fall under "Forest Administration" or under a separate head as 



