Fighting a Forest Fire 



By James Brown, Forest Clerk 



THE hot, dry weather which prevailed in the 

 timbered portions of Arizona and New Mexico 

 throughout the spring and summer has been very 

 disastrous in the way of forest fires. The National For- 

 ests, dry as tinder, with high winds blowing every day, 

 required only a lighted match or cigarette to start huge 

 conflagrations. 



This one happened on a lonely trail in the Horsethief 

 Basin country of the Prescott Forest. On a Friday smoke 

 commenced boiling up from one of the rocky, tree-covered 

 canyons. It was quickly spotted by the Forest Service 

 lookout men from high peaks for miles around, and a 

 forest ranger with a crew of six men was soon at the 

 fire. They fought the fire all day and night and thought 

 they had it under control. Saturday night, however, a 

 strong wind came up and whipped the fire in all directions. 

 More men were hur- 

 ried to the fire line, but 

 Sunday a fiercer wind 

 sprang up and the fire 

 got away in four direc- 

 tions, burning up the 

 mountain sides like 

 millions of Turkish cig- 

 arettes. A hundred 

 men were rushed from 

 the mining town of 

 Crown King to the fire 

 lines. Sunday night, 

 Monday and Monday 

 night it was a hard bat- 

 tle between the men 

 and the crackling 

 flames for mastery. 

 Scores of men never 

 left the fire lines except 

 for meals. 



Equipped with rakes and shovels, some of the fighters 

 cleared fire lanes to head off the fire, while brawny men 

 from the mines leaped inside the lanes and felled trees 

 which were liable to throw sparks beyond the lines. Back 

 fires were started at favorable points and the fire was 

 fought back " blaze against blaze." By Tuesday night it 

 was under control. 



It was of interest to note the different types of men 

 who responded to save Uncle Sam's timber from the 

 flames adventurers, cowboys, miners, railroaders, mine 

 owners, clerks and a lone preacher. One chap on the 

 fire line was a college man from Chicago, roughing it as 

 a cowboy. An assistant cook was a baritone singer and 

 pianist. Several Mexicans, carrying fine army blankets 

 and silver spurs wrapped in their beds, had probably 

 drifted up from the border ex-Villa soldiers? One ad- 



THE FIRE STARTING 



View of the fire on the Prescott National Forest, Arizona, soon after it was discovered by the 

 Forest Service fire lookouts. A brisk wind caused the fire to spread rapidly. 



venturer was a veteran of the Boer War, a strapping six- 

 foot, sunburnt American who seemed absolutely tireless. 

 He fought the fire from Friday night to the following 

 Wednesday night, sleeping only ten hours the whole time. 

 He was a type of the American adventurer all over, from 

 his easy swinging gait to the cool nonchalance he showed 

 under the strongest excitement. The forest ranger, quick 

 to recognize a kindred spirit, had made him foreman 

 of the crew who were fighting the fire at the most dan- 

 gerous point. One time the wind whipped the fire up 

 into the crown of the trees. The Mexicans at this point 

 of the fire line left their tools and ran in terror as the 

 tongues of flame shot up through the rolling smoke. The 

 forest ranger and the Boer War veteran dashed into the 

 smoke to bring out the tools and fell over a Mexican 

 lying on the ground, overcome with smoke. They dragged 



him to safety. 



The country was 

 exceedingly rough and 

 broken, and, while pa- 

 trolling the fire lines, 

 the ranger's horse fell 

 with him and he was 

 painfully injured. 

 However, in spite of 

 his injuries, he stayed 

 on the job until his 

 swollen muscles would 

 no longer carry him. 

 It was worth the effort. 

 One of the mournful 

 sights to a person who 

 loves the forests is to 

 ride over a burned area 

 nothing but black- 

 ened, fire-killed pines. 





" Still stands Thine ancient timbered aisles, 

 Once forest green, now smoking burn." 



The Horsethief fire, however, had its cheering feature. 

 While the area burned over was large, it was only a tithe 

 of the acres of tall pines which were saved. Had the 

 spreading flames been allowed to burn unchecked, the 

 green country for miles around would have been a deso- 

 late wilderness. 



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