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! AMERICAN FORESTRY 



VOL. XXV 



NOVEMBER, 1919 



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NO. 311 



THE GLORY OF THE REDWOODS THREATENED BY FIRE 



BY M. B. PRATT, DEPUTY STATE FORESTER OF CALIFORNIA 



FOREST, range and grain fires have burned over 

 larger areas and have caused more loss in California 

 this summer than in many years. The fire hazard 

 was especially high as early as July due to the small 

 amount of precipitation in the spring months, high hot 

 winds and an unprecedented host of vacationists in the 

 mountains, a number figured by some observers as being 

 twice the normal. With 

 these conditions prevalent, 

 it is remarkable that the 

 tires were kept down as 

 well as they were by gov- 

 ernment, state, county and 

 private agencies. It was 

 not until the latter part of 

 September, when the first 

 fall rains were expected, 

 that a period of intense 

 heat accompanied by strong 

 north winds caused the 

 small fires to become con- 

 flagrations in a short time. 

 In spite of every effort, 

 fires raged uncontrolled in 

 different parts of the state 

 for about two weeks and it 

 was not until a general rain 

 fell on September 27 that 

 they were finally controlled. 

 The fires in southern 

 California were the largest 

 since the great fire of 1910 

 in the San Bernardino 

 Mountains. Fanned by 

 heavy winds, small fires in 

 various sections of the An- 

 geles National Forest es- 

 caped beyond control to 

 form a continuous line of 

 flame over thirty miles in 

 length and ten miles in 

 depth. A raging, roaring sea of flame raced through 

 Pacoima Canyon, often called the most beautiful camping 

 IpOt in southern California, destroying eight summer 

 homes and the attractiveness of the place for many years 

 to come. The $100,000 ranch property of Cecil B. 

 I)i Mille in Tejunga Canyon was left a mass of black- 



ST1LL STALWART AND STRONG 



Although the base of this redwood is eaten out by fire and rot until it 

 is hollow, the tree is so sturdy that it might and undoubtedly would, stand 

 for generations to come, if untouched by firt. 



ened ruins. San Gabriel Canyon was also fire-swept and 

 a number of cottages destroyed. At the same time fires 

 in the San Bernardino Mountains were burning within 

 two miles of the Los Angeles city playground, and threat- 

 ening Squirrel Inn and Thousand Pines in the Rim of the 

 World resort region. 



On September 24, the Mayor of Los Angeles issued the 



following proclamation : 



"There is raging in the An- 

 geles National Forest Reserve, 

 near this city, fires which 

 threaten the entire area. We 

 all appreciate the value of this 

 forest. It is, from the stand- 

 point of irrigation and flood 

 control, priceless. It is our 

 duty as citizens of Los Angeles 

 to do everything in our power, 

 to use all of the resources at 

 our command, to co-operate 

 with the local forest office to 

 extinguish these fires. I feel 

 that this fire may prove more 

 serious to the present as well 

 as the future generations than 

 would a large fire in the heart 

 of our city. 



"Therefore, I request that 

 every person who can in any 

 way, independently or through 

 organizations, collectively, get 

 in touch with the local forest 

 office and aid them in their 

 efforts to extinguish these 

 fires." 



(Signed) 



Meredith P. Snyder, 



Mayor. 



Forest Supervisor Charl- 

 ton soon had twenty-five 

 hundred men on the fire 

 line, and the assistance of 

 District Forester DuBois 

 and other district office men 

 from San Francisco. Air- 

 planes and free balloons 

 from March and Ross fields 

 took observations on the 

 fires, and the work became 

 so well organized that much 

 progress was being made 

 at the time of the rain. 

 A preliminary estimate of the area burned over places 

 it at 237 square miles, or 151,680 acres. The Forest 

 Service probably spent $50,000 for labor and supplies, 

 and lost timber and watershed cover valued at as much 

 more. The loss of property, including that of permittees 



1413 



in checking their spread 



