598 



Illustrated Camiduni J'orrstry MagarJnc, December, ic)20 



Mechanical Attack on Fire 



B\ M. ./. (iraiiKjer. Lately Line J 



\ man was slmwin- inc over one ol 

 the iHili. and i.ai.er plants Lark ra^i laM 

 summer. 1 le said : -The.e -iant turl.me. 

 in our power plant, the cmplex paj-er- 

 makino- niachinerv in our null, show wliat 

 marvelouslv efficient thinkmi; has been 

 done to im])rove manufacture. And our 

 products are markete<l hy the most ui)-to- 

 (late salesmanship on thi> contment. I'ut 

 in the woods, on which tlUs lari;e mvesl- 

 ment depends absolutely no ilunkui^ 

 whatever has been done. '1 he same old 

 woods foreman is cuttino- tnnber m the 

 same old wav that he did 50 years a^o ; 

 the hardwoods are killing- out spruce re- 

 pro.luction ; and 50 years hence, both mill 

 and investment will be doomed unless we 

 go into the woods and do that thmkms 

 now." 



There is a similar lack of balance 

 which we are trying to remedy in forest 

 lire work. INIotor patrols, wireless tele- 

 phony, publicity, have all been brought 

 into use, to detect and prevent fires ; but 

 the actual attack on a forest fire has kept 

 on being mostly a pick-and-shovel, 

 gunnvsack-beating affair. Feeling that 

 these'useful articles are not the last work 

 of modern fire fighting science, the For- 

 est Service has been testing portable gas 

 driven pumps. We have over 40 now in 

 use, and the results have been most satis- 

 factory. They do not replace picks and 

 shovel^, but supplement them much as a 

 machine gun gives powerful supjiort to 

 rifle fire. Where water is available, one 

 pump does the work of 20 men and far 

 more efficiently. Near Cranbrook a 

 single pump was largely responsible for 

 keeping fire out of a valley containing 

 200 million feet of timber. Vp this coast, 

 the inhabitants of a httle sawmill settle- 

 ment had given up fire fighting one day 

 last summer, and were watching the ap- 

 proaching fire in despair, when one of 

 our launches arrived. The ranger and a 

 puni]) came into action, and in a very 

 striking manner the whole settlement was 

 saved.' Wherever a logging operator 

 sees the work these pumps can do, he 

 says he will get one for himself at once, 

 and 1 hnjie he does not forget next day. 



l-'aresler nf British Cnhinihia. 



The pnmps are gasohne-driven ; weight 

 17(1 ]MHin(K; llirow 45 gallons a minute, 

 w itli a bSO-fooi head and cost about SSfXJ. 

 with 1.000 feet of hose, comi)lele. By 

 using a rela\- tank, a cou])le can be used 

 on a working radius of 2,000 feet. 



Attack hy Air. 

 For co-operative work with the various 

 government services, the Canadian air 

 board has just e(|uipped a seaplane sta- 

 tion near \'ancouver, with hangar., slip- 

 ways, Machine shop. Two types of ma- 

 chine are provided for — the big. heavy 

 twin-engine flying boat that can carry 

 14 persons, including the crew of three, 

 or the same weight of fire pumps and 

 ecjuipment ; and the medium size seaplane 

 carrying one pilot and four passengers. 

 For the present, we do not figure on 

 patroling in the air to detect fires; the 

 main idea is to provide a taxi service, 

 with machines ready to take the air in 

 any fire emergency. 



St. Thomas and Its Trees. 



The Hydro-Electric Commission and 

 the Parks Department of the City of St. 

 Thomas have placed tlie trimming of 

 the trees on the streets where hydro 

 wires are strung under the superinten- 

 dency of the Horticultural Society. The 

 St. Thomas Horticultural Society have 

 as their chief plantsman. iMr. R. Y. 

 Smith, formerly superintendent of Parks 

 of London, who is an expert along this 

 line. The trimming is being done in a 

 sane manner. That part of the work 

 on the tree that it is necessary to remove 

 to protect the wires is paid for by the 

 Hydro Commission, and the balance of 

 the Avork to make the tree symmetrical 

 is paid for by the City Council. The 

 spirit exhibited by these two municipal 

 JMidies is commendable. : 



