Canadian Foreslr]) Journal, December, 1919 



513 



Forest Fires at Last Conquered by Aerial Salt-Shaliers ? 



Salem, Ore. — A plan to sprinkle salt on the 

 clouds to produce rain, which would curb the 

 forest fire menace, was offered to Governor 

 Olcott in a letter from J. J. Boyce, of Portland. 

 Boyce would have the salting done from air- 

 planes. The Governor did not declare himself 

 in favor of the idea, but was reported to be 

 considering the scheme to equip airplanes with 



salt-shakers. Boyce, in his letter, called the 

 Governor's attention to the fact that in flying 

 one passes through zones where there is mois- 

 ture in the air, but not enough to condense and 

 form raindrops. Common salt would draw this 

 moisture, if dropped from high above such an 

 air current, Boyce maintained. He hazarded 

 the opinion that clouds and rain would result. 



that they are not to-day in universal use in 

 Canadian for ests. Yet the fact is that they are 

 not in universal use, and from present appear- 

 ances, not likely to be in universal use for some 

 years to come. Some patrol work carried on 

 this summer by the St. Maurice Fire Protective 

 Association (Quebec) represents practically all 

 that has yet been done in Canada in the matter 

 of forest air work. The main reason that air- 

 craft are not in universal use is because no 

 satisfactory answer has yet been given to the 

 question, "Will it pay?" Or, to put it another 

 way, "If a definite amount of money is to be 

 spent on fire protection, will the best results be 

 obtained by spending it on aircraft or on fire 

 wardens?" 



MEN OR MACHINES? 



Those responsible for fire protection are so 

 far not at all convinced that best results will 

 be obtained by spending it on aircraft. To il- 

 lustrate: An estimate of cost prepared last 

 spring for aerial patrol of a certain forest area 

 in Quebec worked out approximately at $23,000 

 (this did not include any provision for wire- 

 less.) This estimate was prepared without tak- 

 ing into account any expenditure in the pur- 

 chase of machines, the intention being that ma- 

 chines should be borrowed from the Govern- 

 ment. It did not take into account various 

 other items, such as the construction of housing 

 for the machines, depreciation, interest on the 

 investment, workshop equipment, etc. Now, 

 the figure of $23,000 was intended to cover two 

 four-hour patrols per day on an average of 

 twenty days per month for a period of six 

 months. With the same amount of expenditure 

 on wages for fire wardens, a fire protective ser- 

 vice would be able to employ for six months at 

 $100 per month practically forty wardens. Those 

 concerned in fire protection work naturally ask 

 the question: "With forty wardens, wouldn't 

 we get better results than with the aircraft pa- 

 trol?" Perhaps they would, and perhaps they 



would not, but that is the question that, more 

 than any other, serves to delay action in regard 

 to the rapid application of aircraft to forest 

 work. 



Of course, in addition, there is the capital 

 involved in the purchase of planes and other 

 equipment; there also is the high cost of in- 

 stallation of wireless stations, because, to get 

 full efficiency out of aircraft there should be 

 wireless installations as well. To go into the 

 business of applying aircraft and wireless to 

 forest work involves a large capital expenditure 

 and a large expenditure on operation. 



While most people are convinced that effic- 

 iency would be promoted by an air service, the 

 men responsible for expenditure on forestry 

 work naturally weigh the pros and cons. They 

 must figure on a dollar basis. They know pretty 

 well what they can accomplish per dollar by a 

 warden service. No one has yet given a prac- 

 tical demonstration as to what can be accom- 

 plished by aircraft on the dollar basis. There- 

 fore, alluring as the prospect of a forestry air 

 service is, it would appear that the development 

 of such service will be comparatively gradual 

 and comparatively slow. 



PLANES ARE NOT FIRE-FIGHTERS. 



There is another point in connection with this 

 subject which also largely enters into the calcu- 

 lation of the forest workers: For the present the 

 airplane is not of any value in actual fire-fight- 

 ing. But an additional warden service (as in 

 the case mentioned above, 40 wardens) would 

 be of very distinct value in fire-fighting. Now. 

 there probably will never be a time when no 

 one is optimistic enough to expect that history 

 will not from time to time repeat itself. With 

 this in mind the forest worker will not discuss a 

 forest air service without attaching great im- 

 portance to what a large warden service can do 

 against a fire, when an airplane would be power- 

 less. 



