UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 FOREST SERVICE 



(Prom the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture 



San Francisco Office) 



PREVENT GREAT DAMAGE 

 FROM FOREST FIRES 



According to reports received by District Forester 

 Coert DuBois from all the national forests in California, the 

 damage from forest fires in this state during the past season 

 v;as held to 0*76,524. The re-cords show chat out of 1,234 f res, 

 1024 were put out before they had reached 10 acres in size, and 

 662 were extinguished before they had burned an area 100 feet 

 square. Considering the fact that the national forests contain 

 resources in timber alone which are worth more than 200,000,000 

 and that these resources were endangered by no less than 1234 

 fires, forest officers are congratulating themselves that the 

 Damage was comparatively slight. 



In many cases fires were prevented from destroying 

 valuable timber or improvements only by the most desperate 

 resistance. The fire that occurred at the base of Mount Shasta 

 in late July and threatened no" 1 ' only the national forest but the 

 .owns near its border is an ex;. ...pie of enormous damage averted 

 jy hard work. The protection of thousands of dollars worth of 

 ;>riva^e property necessitated the building of back-fires which 

 threatened to over-run the government timber. To control these 

 oack-fires, more men were required than had ever before been 

 mobilized by the Forest Service in California, and the expense 

 to the Government was considerable. The fight was successful, 

 hov r ever, and damage was almost entirely averted. 



L'ne greatest loss that has been reported from any 

 single fire occurred on the lands of a lumber company in the 

 .Diddle Sierras. A spark from one of the company's engines 

 Caused a fire that destroyed timber and equipment belonging 

 .0 the company valued at $60,000 and injured the adjacent na- 

 . ional forest to the extent of $7,000 before it was controlled. 



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