<96 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 



Idaho. Cut off by the flames with his band of fifty 

 men, chiefly foreigners, his knowledge of the country 

 enabled him to lead them to an abandoned mine tunnel. 

 Placing a wet blanket over the tunnel mouth to keep 

 out the smoke, Ranger Pulaski with drawn revolver 

 kept the fire fighters, half-crazed with fear, from rushing 

 out into the flames. One man did make his escape 

 only to perish. The remainder, owing to the great 

 courage of their leader, came through with little injury, 

 although he, owing to his position at the mouth of the 

 tunnel, suffered serious burns from which he did not 

 recover for months. 



Fire fighting on a large scale is much like real war- 

 fare. An army of men must be mobilized and 

 dispatched to the front. They must be divided into 

 squads under the command of an experienced man and 

 remain subject to his control. Weapons, in this case, 

 picks, shovels, mattocks, saws, axes, etc., must be 

 furnished. Blankets and camp equipment must be 

 brought in and food and water must be supplied to 

 the men on the firing line. In the big fire in southern 

 Idaho in August, 1914, over one thousand men were on 

 the line at one time, and to keep up the fighting effi- 

 ciency of this regiment, one hundred miles from the 

 nearest railroad, required a systematic organization 

 closely resembling those employed in army maneuvers. 

 Automobile trucks and pack trains moved in a con- 

 tinuous procession from the railroad to the commissary 

 on the line, for men to fight fire must be well fed. 



When a fire has gotten into the crowns and goes 

 rushing away cross country from ten to twelve miles 

 an hour there is little that can be done in the daytime. 

 T"or while the sun is hot, the fire burns fiercely, and 

 even if there is no wind the suction created by the 



