1406 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ization is built on the principle that fires be discovered and reported 

 promptly to trained fire-fighting units capable of attacking the fire 

 in the shortest possible time and also of expanding to cope with any 

 fire-control job that may develop. The frequency and occurrence 

 of past fires and the rate at which fires spread, as shown by the fire- 

 history of a forest property, determine the number and placement of a 

 mobile man power prepared so to function. Provision also must be 

 made for expanding auxiliary forces to supplement the regular first 

 line of defense. 



To determine what form the fire-control organization will take and 

 how intensive it will be, full consideration must be given to the local 

 objective in fire control, the intensity and character of fire risks, 

 density of population, accessibility of the areas of greatest fire danger, 

 and the rate at which fires normally spread in a given forest type. 

 The organization thus perfected will function adequately at critical 

 times and will meet definite time requirements as to the speed with 

 which it is prepared to attack a reported fire. On the basis of present 

 studies, speed-of-attack 1 objectives vary all the way from three 

 quarters of an hour to 12 hours. 



Just what happens when a fire starts in any area under organized 

 protection? In a critical western forest region the procedure is as 

 follows : 



First must come prompt detection furnished by lookout men sta- 

 tioned on prominent peaks or high towers, or at other fire-observation 

 points. The lookout immediately reports the fire to a dispatcher, 

 who in turn transmits the information to a fireman. To make the 

 report requires an extensive communication system of telephone lines 

 in good working order. The fireman, the first line of defense, must 

 be prepared with tools, equipment, horse, or automobile to proceed 

 at once to the fire over roads and trails. If speed is to be made in 

 reaching the fire the road and trail system must break up the terri- 

 tory sufficiently so that fires can be reached in even as small a time 

 interval as half an hour. If the fire requires reenforcements, trucks 

 and additional tools must be dispatched from supply depots and 

 labor sources over a road and trail system. Then comes the task of 

 actually extinguishing the fire, involving exacting standards of per- 

 formance and management. 



In the East as a rule a less elaborate system is needed because the 

 forests usually are more accessible, man power is more readily avail- 

 able, and the difficulties in the way of suppression are not so great. 



West or East, the business of controlling fire must be built up step 

 by step to meet each special need. Men, whether hired or volunteer, 

 must be carefully trained for the specialized jobs of fire prevention, 

 including law enforcement, detection, dispatching, fire fighting, and 

 use of various equipment from the simple shovel, ax, and saw to the 

 automatic pumper, plow or tractor. The men must be keenly 

 interested in their tasks, must be skilled in woodcraft, in firefighting, 

 and must be capable of assembling unorganized crews, organizing 

 and directing them, and putting them to work. A skilled fire-control 

 organization in a single Western ranger district must be prepared to 

 suppress a small fire, a broadside of even 100 lightning fires resulting 

 from one electric storm, or a major conflagration requiring the organ- 



1 Allowable time between start of fire and arrival of forces at fire. 



