CARE AND PROTECTION OF THE FOREST 109 



When finally it is located it may be half a mile from 

 the nearest water, and to carry water even a quarter of a 

 mile through ordinary Adirondack or similar wildwoods 

 to put out a fire covering only two acres of land would 

 often require ten men's service for several days, and the 

 fire would most likely grow beyond control instead of 

 being extinguished. For this reason water is rarely used, 

 except where a small fire is just starting, as when we wish 

 to put out the neglected camp fire. In fact, real forest 

 fires are not usually put out at all ; the men merely try to 

 check their spreading and thus restrict them to as small 

 an area as possible. After days of fighting and watching, 

 the fire will finally die out or else be extinguished by 

 rain.. 



In places where former fires have cleaned all the dead 

 and dry material on the ground, the mere beating out of 

 the fire at the edges and cleaning a strip twenty to thirty 

 inches wide with a rake does good service. 



Early mornings and late evenings is the time to work, 

 for during the heat of ,the day the fire is usually so hot 

 that men cannot work near it. In heavy timber where 

 much black duff covers the ground the raking alone is 

 useless, and a trench must be made. Such a trench, if 

 only twelve inches wide, is a good barrier against a slowly 

 progressing fire. In any case the fire must be watched, 

 for it is sure to cross either line or trench. When once 

 the heat is such that the fire travels as fast as a man 



