620 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



several days. Deputj' Supervisor Long was 

 in Los Angeles in charge of the supervisor's 

 office when the fire occurred. When the fire 

 had been burning twenty-eight hours he 

 realized that the situation was grave 

 enough to demand his personal attention 

 and immediately started for San Bernar- 

 dino to take personal charge of the work. 



The organization of the fight at this fire 

 was about the same as usually effected 

 when large stubborn fires are being fought. 

 On occasions of this kind, I'ed tape is never 

 a bar to prompt and effective action. At 

 this fire men were employed, supplies pur- 

 chased, and every sort of transportation 

 arranged for both men and supplies with- 

 out the delay of any system of requisitions 

 or approval of higher officers of the serv- 

 ice. The standing instructions to supervi- 

 sors and rangers are to incur any liabilities 

 necessary for the controlling of any fire on 

 national forest lands. At no time in the 

 history of the San Bernardino fire was 

 there any hesitation in securing men or 

 supplies because of the expense or lack of 

 authority of men on the ground to incur it. 



A peculiar feature of this fii'e was the 

 opportunity to use automobiles in trans- 

 porting men and equipment. This very suc- 

 cessful mode of transportation was used 

 wherever necessary. The camps were kept 

 well supplied with provisions and men went 

 hungry only when they were unable to get 

 to the camps. 



Although no preparations had been made 

 for the employment of such large bodies of 

 men. numerous ingenious systems of or- 

 ganizing small crews, issuing and dispatch- 

 ing orders and handling men at camps 

 were devised and adopted, notwithstanding 

 the strain of the fight. 



Men were employed at the standard rate 

 of pay for this part of the country. Twenty- 

 five cents per hour was allowed for time 

 consumed going from San Bernardino to 

 the fire, for all time spent on the fire line 

 or in traveling between the fire camps and 

 the fire line, and also for returning from 

 the fire to San Bernardino. The statement 

 that straight time was allowed at 25 cents 

 per hour from the start from San Ber- 

 nardino until the return was unauthorized 

 and did not originate with any forest offi- 

 cer. It is obvious that the standard forest 

 service system of paying fire fighters by the 

 hour would be nonsensical if payment were 

 to be made for twenty-four hours a day. 



Back-firing, when possible to practice it, 

 is one of the most effective methods for 

 fighting forest fires. This system was used 

 whenever conditions of wind and slope 

 made it safe, and miles of back-fires were 

 set under the instructions of forest officers. 

 Back-fires are exceedingly dangerous weap- 

 ons, however, and when indiscriminately or 

 unintelligently used, are certain to spread 

 the fire instead of aiding in its control. One 

 of the most serious handicaps the forest offi- 



cers had to contend with was the setting 

 of unauthorized back-fires by settlers who 

 wanted to protect their own property but 

 failed to take precautions against spread of 

 the fires they had set. 



Instructions against back-firing were 

 usually respected by settlers and threats to 

 use fire arms were not necessary and were 

 not at any time resorted to. Some disas- 

 trous back-fires were set when no forest 

 officers were near to prevent it. One saw- 

 mill man back-fired around his property 

 although he was not in the path of the 

 main fire. He then started up his mill in 

 disregard of possible damage his back-fire 

 might do to others. Forest officers and fire 

 fighters had to leave their work on the 

 main fire to fight this back-fire but before 

 they succeeded in bringing it under control 

 it had, on account of the high wind prevail- 

 ing at that time, run over two miles and 

 joined the main fire. 



On August 3, while the San Bernardino 

 fire was still at its height, a disbursing 

 agent was sent from San Francisco with a 

 large sum of money to his credit in the 

 United States subtreasury. He arrived in 

 San Bernardino on the morning of August 

 4. Only straggling fire fighters were then 

 in town awaiting payment and it was not 

 until the night of August 5 that a forest 

 officer could be spared from the line to come 

 into town and approve the time checks of 

 the fighters. The disbursing agent started 

 writing checks on the morning of August 

 6 and kept it up until August 13, at which 

 time he had paid all of the labor accounts 

 except a few odd bills that had not been 

 presented. Settlements of fire accounts in 

 this case, as in all oLuers, take precedence 

 over all other bills. 



The total cost of controlling the fire was 

 in the neighborhood of $25,000, practically 

 all of which was paid by the forest service. 

 The total area burned over is a trifle under 

 19,000 acres. Two-thirds of this area is 

 devoid of timber but was covered with a 

 growth of brush of very great value to the 

 water-using industries of the San Ber- 

 nardino Valley. The damage to timber is 

 less than would be expected not over five 

 per cent of the mature timber and only 

 half of the young timber between ten years 

 of age and maturity being killed. Seed- 

 lings under ten years of age were, of course, 

 consumed. 



An investigation will be made to deter- 

 mine the best method of repairing the dam- 

 age to the watersheds burned over, but as 

 yet no plans have been made for planting 

 the denuded hillsides. 



At several different times, officers in 

 charge of the fight, as well as mountaineers 

 who have had life-long experience at the 

 fire-fighting game, believed they were near- 

 ing the end of the fignt. That their expec- 

 tations of success were not realized was 

 due to the freakish winds. The judgment 



