Aviator to Detect Forest Fires 



QUITE the latest development in the protection of 

 the forests from fires is the appointment of an 

 aviator to detect any forest fires near Big Trout 

 Lake in Wisconsin. He is L. A. Vilas, a relative of the 

 late United States Senator William F. \'ilas, of Wis- 

 consin. Using his hydroaeroplane and arising from Big 

 Trout Lake, Mr. Vilas in a few minutes can reach an 

 altitude of 1,000 feet and from that height can survey 

 some 200,000 acres of forested land. If he detects 

 smoke indicating a fire in the forest he can report in a 

 few minutes more to the State Forestry headquarters for 

 the district and in a very short space of time state forest 

 rangers can be placed along the line of the fire. 



The use of a flying machine is particularly valuable 

 for this kind of work where the country is flat or where 

 there are no high elevations upon which lookout stations 

 may be placed. In flat or rolling lands lookout towers 

 enable the observer to guard a territory of rather small 

 area, whereas Aviator \'ilas at the height of 1,000 feet 

 can detect a fire thirty or forty miles away from the lake. 



While appointed by the State Forester, Mr. Vilas 

 accepts no remuneration, volunteering his services. In 

 writing to Amkric.ax Forkstry about the work, Mr. 

 Vilas says : 



"I greatly appreciate the interest you show in the part 

 the flying boat is taking in detecting forest fires. The 



machine I am using is a standard Curtis four-passenger 

 tlying boat with a Curtis eight-cylinder \' type 100 

 horsepower motor. This machine has an average speed 

 of about sixty-two miles an hour in the air and forty 

 miles an hour in the water, with a climbing capacity of 

 1,000 feet in three minutes. At an altitude of 1,000 feet 

 a fire thirty or forty miles away is distinctly visible. 



"I usually am flying every evening around six o'clock 

 and I always reach an altitude which enables me to see 

 about forty miles in every direction and if I do see indi- 

 cations of fire I can report to the Forestry headquarters 

 at Trout Lake within three minutes." 



E. M. Griffith, who has recently resigned as State 

 Forester of Wisconsin, said : 



"It is generous of ^Ir. \'ilas to off^er these services to 

 the state without charge. The other day I made an 

 ascent with him and we detected a fire. By communi- 

 cating with the rangers when we came down, we found 

 that it was a settler doing some clearing. The hydro- 

 aeroplane will reach the place of a fire in only a few 

 minutes, where otherwise hours would be consumed." 



Mr. Vilas recently discovered a fire thirty miles off 

 and on investigation it was found that he had made an 

 accurate estimate of the distance. 



Mr. Griflfth said that at an altitude of about 1,000 

 feet it is possible to clearly view all of the state forest 



HYDROAICKOPLAXE LSED FOR FOREST FIRE PROTECTION WORK 



This machine which has an average speed of *2 miles an hour in the air and 40 miles on the water, with a climbing capacity of 1,000 

 feet in three minutes is used by E. A. \'ilas who has volunteered his service to protect the forests near Trout Lake, U'isconsin, 

 from tire. At a height of 1,000 feet he can survey 2(M),000 acres of forested land and in a few minutes can report any indication 

 of a forest fire to the State Forestry Department Iiead(i4iarters for the district. 



914 



