PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE 



By E. I. KOTOK, Director California Forest Experiment Station, EVAN W. 



KELLEY, Regional Forester, Northern Rocky Mountain Region, and C. F. 



EVANS, District Forest Inspector, Division of State Cooperation, Branch of 



Public Relations 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Brief review of fire situation 1395 



Objectives in fire control 1397 



How closely have the objectives been reached? 1400 



Basic needs in a national fire-control program 1403 



The essential parts and functions of an adequate fire-control organization. 1405 



Present expenditures for fire control 1407 



Additional expenditures needed 1409 



The immediate financial program 1412 



BRIEF REVIEW OF FIRE SITUATION 



The prevention and control of forest fires is a basic requirement 

 in forestry, whether the purpose of management is timber production, 

 watershed protection, or game and recreational development. Am- 

 erican forests in every region show the adverse effects of past forest 

 fires, in depleted and decadent stands of the virgin forest, in deterio- 

 rated and denuded condition of cut-over lands, in the impaired con- 

 dition of important watersheds, and in the destruction or marring of 

 scenic values and the destruction of wild life. 



There is abundant evidence in every forest region that repeated 

 fires, through an imperceptible process of attrition, have reduced for- 

 est stands and in many types the loss has been one third or even one 

 half in value or volume over extensive areas. In some instances re- 

 peated fires have converted valuable conifer forests into brush fields, 

 and important hardwood types into ragged forests of unmerchantable 

 trees. The destruction that follows a spectacular crown fire, which 

 takes everything in its path, is readily recognized. The less spectac- 

 ular light surface fire, if occurring frequently enough, may approach 

 the crown fire in destructiveness to ultimate forest values. In many 

 regions, tree-killing insects and wood-destroying fungi inevitably 

 increase their activity following forest fires. Frequently the problem 

 of protection against future fires is intensified by the very ravages of 

 past fires. 



Systematic and organized control against forest fires was begun in 

 many forest regions about 25 years ago. Considerable progress has 

 been made and partial success attained; but taking all the forest 

 regions together, as reflected in the record for 1926-30, the average 

 burned-over area of 41} million acres annually on national forests, 

 State, and private lands, fire must be considered as a widespread 

 national problem. In table 1 is given the average annual burn of 

 forest lands in the principal regions. This tabulation in part indicates 

 the relative present intensity of the fire problem. These figures, in- 

 cluding more than 37 % million acres burned over annually in the 

 South, over \% million acres in the Pacific Coast region, over \% 



1395 



