PROTECTION OF FORESTS FROM FIRE 



5< 



cendiary fire, just as in a city. In cer- 

 tain districts, also, lightning will con- 

 tinue to be an unavoidable cause of fire. 

 The management of the forest must, 

 therefore, be so organized that such 

 fires as do start may be extinguished as 

 quickly as possible. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE FOREST 



By organization of a forest for protec- 

 tion is meant the establishment of such 

 conditions that the chances of a fire are 

 reduced to a minimum, and that such 

 fires as are started may be extinguished 

 with the minimum of damage. Among 

 measures variously used to accomplish 

 this are : 



(1) The disposal of slash from log- 

 ging operations. 



(2) The development of roads, 

 trails, and fire lines. 



(3) The establishment of lookout 

 stations and telephone lines. 



(4) The organization of a protective 

 supervisory and fire-fighting force. 



(5) The control of insects which kill 

 trees and cause an accumulation of 

 dead, inflammable timber. 



No one measure is sufficient for ade- 

 quate fire protection. The disposal of 

 dry tops and brush reduces the danger 

 from fire, but there always remains 

 enough inflammable material in a forest 

 to make possible a damaging fire. There 

 must also be roads, trails, or fire lines 

 giving ready access to the forest, so that 

 fires may be located and reached. Nor 

 are these together sufficient, for there 

 must be a constant watching for fires 

 in order that they may be discovered 

 and attacked when they are small and 

 easily controlled and before they have 

 done much injury. All the measures 

 of fire protection are used together, and 

 supplement each other. 



Disposal of Slash 



The presence of dry tops and piles 

 of brush in the forest constitutes the 

 greatest menace from fires. The severity 

 of a fire, and hence the damage done, is 

 in direct proportion to the amount of 

 dry debris on the ground. Still more 



serious is the fact that the presen 

 of this material makes it exceeding 

 difficult to control and extinguish a fir 

 If there is no material on the grout 

 other than the ordinary leaf litter, 

 surface fire may be easily extinguishe 

 Old logs, dead and down trees, ai 

 snags lying about on the ground a 

 also a great hindrance to fighting fire 

 for when once ignited they are apt 

 smolder for long periods, and so co 

 tinue to threaten a further spread i 

 the flames. In many of our forests tl 

 dead, standing snags constitute a da 

 gerous feature. If these are surroundi 

 by a dense stand of conifers, they ofti 

 carry the flames up into the canopy ai 

 make a crown fire ; if isolated, they m; 

 burn for days, and finally fall, throwii 

 sparks in all directions. The forest 

 aims to reduce the amount of this i 

 flammable debris in a forest as rapid 

 as possible, since the "clean" stand 

 easy to protect in comparison with 

 stand that is littered with dry debris. 



Disposal of Brush and Debris 



A first practical step is to prevent 

 further accumulation of debris in 

 forest by disposing of the slash fro 

 new cuttings. The application in ; 

 forests of a uniform method for di 

 posing of this material would, ho^ 

 ever, be unwise. It should be clear 

 understood that no fixed rule of pr 

 cedure and no single method could pc 

 sibly fit all the different forest cone 

 tions in a country so large as the Unit- 

 States. The method used in any giv 

 case must be chosen after a caref 

 study, and must rest upon a comple 

 knowledge of the local conditions. Mai 

 methods have been tried in the di 

 posal of brush, but those producing t' 

 best results are the following : 



1 i ) Piling and burning as loggii 

 proceeds. 



(2) Piling and burning in separa 

 operations. 



(3) Lopping the tops. 



(4) Lopping the tops and scatterii 

 the brush. 



(5) Broadcast burning. 



