532 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



ANALYSIS OF FIRE CONTROLS ON SEVEN RANGER DISTRICTS IN THE SOUTH, 



1940, 1946, 1947 



Average maximum number men 

 Average time on line building per fire (including mop-up) Average chains built line 



Based on records of 315 fires. 2 Based on records of 526 fires. 3 Based on records of 627 fires. 



and installed radio controls. A conclu- 

 sive analysis of the benefits is not pos- 

 sible, but the general trend is shown 

 in some statistics for all protected lands 

 in the States: The fires per million 

 acres were 572 in 1942, 601 in 1943, 

 328 in 1944, 317 in 1945, 382 in 1946, 

 and 472 in 1947. The percentages of 

 protected areas that burned were 2.72 

 in 1942, 3.02 in 1943, 1.24 in 1944, 

 1.52 in 1945, 1.45 in 1946, 1.99 in 1947. 



The economic fundamentals of con- 

 trol of forest fires are akin to the fire 

 insurance that an owner of other types 

 of property would buy. The basic items 

 are: The value of the assets that are 

 vulnerable to fire; their intensity and 

 duration of exposure; the value of the 

 probable losses over the years to the 

 owner if his lands are not protected 

 or are protected in various degrees and 

 the point at which the cost of protec- 

 tion would exceed the value of addi- 

 tional decrease in losses. 



How do those fundamentals apply 

 to the South? 



Forested lands in the South contain 

 stands of reproduction and merchant- 

 able stems having tangible values of 

 $35 to $40 an acre, or about $80,000 

 per township. They are exposed to fire 

 for 8 to 12 months a year. Of lands not 

 under protection, 20 percent or more 

 burn annually. With manpower sup- 

 pression, 4. 1 percent of the area studied 

 burned annually. Of forest lands pro- 

 tected by mechanical equipment, 1.1 

 percent burned. A computation of the 

 savings in cost of suppression and 



losses from fire shows that owners of 

 timberland will make a clear financial 

 gain by investing in a tractor-plow unit 

 for each 25,000 acres that need protec- 

 tion. If the timber values on their lands 

 vary from those used in this illustra- 

 tion, the justifiable area should be 

 adjusted accordingly. 



In the longleaf and slash pine belt, 

 proper silvicultural management re- 

 quires the use of fire at times to expose 

 the soil for seed fall, to control en- 

 croachment of brush and worthless 

 species, overcome infections of brown 

 spot disease, release grass-stage seed- 

 lings for height growth, and (under 

 some conditions) to reduce hazardous 

 accumulations of fuel. To use fire 

 safely and at reasonable cost, a plow 

 unit is essential. 



The most valuable prospect prom- 

 ised by these experiences is that wide- 

 spread adoption of mechanical sup- 

 pression methods will make it possible 

 to give reasonable fire protection to 

 most southern timberlands, or better 

 than double the present protection in- 

 tensity for the same average annual 

 sum now being expended for suppres- 

 sion. With increased fire protection, 

 owners of lands now idle or thinly 

 stocked will find it a good business risk 

 to return them to a productive condi- 

 tion and develop them toward their 

 potential capacities to produce. 



ARTHUR W. HARTMAN is chief of the 

 Division of Fire Control in the South- 

 ern Region of the Forest Service. 



