508 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



Greek camp for relay to the supervisor: 

 "Cedar Greek fire corralled 9 : 55 a. m. ; 

 6,000 acres. 



"All under control." 



FRANK J. JEFFERSON is assistant re- 

 gional forester, in charge of the Divi- 

 sion of Fire Control, in Region 5 (Cali- 

 fornia) of the Forest Service. Since he 

 joined the Forest Service in 1911 he 



has been ranger on the Lewis and 

 Clark National Forest; assistant super- 

 visor of the Lewis and Clark, Nezperce, 

 and Clearwater National Forests; su- 

 pervisor of the Selway and Kootenai 

 National Forests; assistant chief of the 

 Division of Operation in Region 1, with 

 headquarters at Missoula, Mont.; and 

 assistant chief of the Divisions of En- 

 gineering and Operation, Region 5. 



FIGHTING FIRES FROM THE AIR 



CLAYTON S. CROCKER 



The roar of the motors faded al- 

 most to silence as the patrol plane dis- 

 appeared behind a gray peak. Then it 

 came again, its rumble a conglomerate 

 of echoes bouncing from one canyon 

 wall to the other. It lurched each time 

 it crossed over the craggy divide on 

 either side of the mile-deep canyon. 

 Updrafts boosted it like a feather, then 

 dropped it hundreds of feet toward the 

 timbered country below the Selway 

 Wilderness Area in the Bitterroot Na- 

 tional Forest in Montana, one of the 

 most rugged and inaccessible areas in 

 the United States. 



Midway on the mountainside below 

 was a small, steadily smoking fire ; light- 

 ning had touched off a dry tree. In an 

 hour it would spread through the tim- 

 ber and race up the steep slope, leaving 

 devastation in its wake. No man on foot 

 or horse could reach the blaze in less 

 than 2 days ; there are no roads near it. 



The plane leveled off. It slowed al- 

 most to a stalling speed a quarter of a 

 mile to windward and a half mile above 

 the fire. In rapid succession three men, 

 mere dots in that tremendously big sky 

 and background of giant mountains, 

 jumped out. Above each smoke- 

 jumper the minuteman of the na- 

 tional forest fire organization a thin, 

 white streamer billowed out, waved 

 crazily for a moment, then took on the 

 shape of a snowy umbrella. 



Updrafts, downdrafts, side winds 

 opposed each smokejumper, dangling 



30 feet below his parachute, in his ef- 

 fort to alight on the spot he had 

 selected. He, in turn, manipulated his 

 chute to compensate for the contrary 

 currents. His life and that of the forest 

 depended upon his safe landing. He 

 dumped the air from the chute and 

 plummeted like a rock so as to offset too 

 much side drift. Then, to avoid being 

 speared by sharp-topped snags, he col- 

 lapsed one side of the canopy and 

 glided rapidly forward, falling all the 

 while at the rate of 16 feet a second. 

 His selected landing spot was the top 

 of a hundred-foot green tree. With 

 feet close together, he crashed through 

 the branches ; twigs, needles, and cones 

 flew in all directions. Then his chute 

 tangled amid the top branches and 

 jerked him to a stop, his feet 70 feet 

 above the rocky mountainside. To the 

 trunk of the tree he quickly fastened 

 one end of the rope he carried con- 

 veniently at his side; with it he clam- 

 bered down. 



Five minutes later, he and two com- 

 panion smoke jumpers attacked the 

 fire. In 2 hours they had put it out, in 

 what to them was routine fashion, a 

 routine part of a day. Besides saving 

 the virgin timber from devastation, 

 they exemplified the precept that ef- 

 fective fire fighting depends on the fast 

 mobilization of men and tools. Mo- 

 bilization depends on transportation. 

 Transportation now depends increas- 

 ingly on aircraft, the fastest and most 



