10 FOREST PROTECTION 



II. Remedial Measures: 

 a. Main principles: 



Have one man in full charge and hold him alone responsible. 



Have helpers and relays for helpers ready in the various ranges 

 (scattering the work) during droughts, employing them in 

 lumbering or in silviculture until their help is required 

 at a fire. 



The foreman, upon arrival at the fire, must first ascertain the 

 speed of the fire and the length of the line of attack; fur- 

 ther, the distance from the next fire lane (trail, brook, 

 pasture), and the amount of help locally available. 



The foreman must not hesitate to abandon the burning dis- 

 trict, up to the next or second next fire lane. 



Food and water for the fire-fighters must be provided. 



The fire is subdued only when the last spark is extinguished. 

 The edges of the burned area must be watched for 24 

 hours succeeding the fire. 



b. Tools: 



The axe, hoe, spade, shovel, rake (preferably wooden teeth); 

 brooms; plows on abandoned fields; water buckets and 

 sprinkling cans; pack-train, or railroad-velocipedes prop- 

 erly equipped; fire extinguishers. 



c. Actual Work: 



(1) Underground fires can be stopped only by digging ditches 

 and by turning water into them. 



(2) Surface fires are stopped 



By plowing or digging a furrow around the fire. 



By beating the fire out with brooms or green twigs. 



By removing the humus and debris from a narrow line 

 in front of the fire by hand or rake. 



By throwing dirt on the fire. 



By sprinkling in front of the fire. 



By the use of extinguishers against the flame itself. 



By back-firing from the next point of vantage with due 

 regard for the speed of the fire the best and only 

 remedy in the case of heavy conflagrations. 



(3) Top fires can be stopped only by providing broad fire 

 lanes on which the trees are cut, and by back-firing from 

 such lanes. 



(4) Stem fires burning in hollow trees are stopped by filling 

 the holes in the trunk with dirt or by cutting the tree 

 down. 



Fires going down hill, against the wind and in the hours following mid- 

 night are the easiest to subdue. 



For the history of some famous forest fires, see Pinchot's Primer, Part I. 



