HOW THE FIRES WERE FOUGHT 



637 



WHERE THE MEN WERE KILLED 



It was the top fires of August 20 and 

 21, driven by cyclonic winds, which 

 wrought the destruction of life and 

 property in Idaho and Montana this 

 summer. Within forty-eight hours a 

 strip of country along the Bitterroot 

 Mountains, at least one hundred and 

 twenty miles in length, extending from 

 the Clark's Fork River to the head of 

 the Selway Fork of the Clearwater, and 

 from twenty to thirty-five miles in 

 width, was more or less completely 

 burned over. Seventy-four employees 

 of the Forest Service, all temporary 

 laborers, were killed, and as many more 

 injured. 



The rescue of the injured and miss- 

 ing men and of the settlers and pros- 

 pectors and others endangered in the 

 mountains necessarily took precedence 

 over fire fighting for several days, but 

 by August twenty-fourth the combat 

 with the fires was resumed at nearly all 

 points and continued until the early 

 September rains largely eliminated fur- 

 ther danger. 



Of all the causes of forest fires, light- 

 ning alone is not controllable. It is, 

 however, possible by an adequate sys- 

 tem of patrol, communication, and 

 transportation, to discover and get to 

 all fires soon enough to put them out. 

 Since lightning is one of the most pro- 

 lific causes of the more remote fires, the 

 importance of catching them when they 

 are small cannot be too strongly empha- 

 sized. But the inadequate trail systems 

 on the Forests, owing to the size of the 

 country and the insufficiency of funds 

 to build any but those of the most urg- 

 ent character, made it impossible to gel 

 to a great many of these fires until un- 

 der the stimulus of the winds and dry 

 weather they had become too large to 

 lie handled by a few men. 



It is exactly analogous to the position 

 a city fire department would be in if the 

 streets were kept continually blocked 

 and each time a call was made work- 

 would have to be done to clear tin- 

 streets before the engines could reach 

 the fire. Ts it necessary to emphasize 

 the importance of sending in the alarm 

 quickly and getting after the fire before 



it gains headway? If the Forests are 

 to be protected from fire, trails must be 

 put through them. 



THE SECRET OF FULL CONTROL 



Summarizing the essential things to 

 do to make the location and control of 

 fires in the National Forests possible : 



1 i ) A comprehensive system of ridge 

 and stream trails which extend over the 

 entire Forest. These trails average in 

 cost from $60.00 to $100.00 per mile, 

 with an 1 8-inch tread and 8- foot clear- 

 ing. Each Forest should eventually 

 have from 200 to 400 miles of trail. 



(2) A system of well-selected look- 

 out points and ridge trails, so coordi- 

 nated as to give primary control of all 

 districts for locating fires. 



(3) A coordinated system of tele- 

 phone lines extending up the main 

 streams and tapping by tributary lines 

 the look-out points. 



(4) The purchase and maintenance 

 of pack horses fully equipped with pack 

 saddles. These horses can be used for 

 building trails and, when the emergency 

 arises, put on duty packing fire sup- 

 plies. 



(5) The location of caches of tools 

 throughout the Forest at strategic 

 points. These tools should consist of 

 mattocks or grub-hoes, saws, axes, and 

 shovels, enough to equip 10 men from 

 each cache. 



(6) A patrol on heavily timbered 

 areas of at least i man to 30,000 acres, 

 and in the more open regions of I man 

 to 50,000 or 60,000 acres. 



TRENCHING AND I',. \CK-FIRING 



So much for general control. Now 

 as to the methods of fighting the fires 

 when reached. 



Fires are of two classes ground 

 fires and top fires. The ground fires 

 are always the first to start, and the top 

 fires occur only under high winds. Fire 

 runs up hill rapidly under high winds. 

 Trendies from 2 to 4 feet wide are dug 

 down to mineral soil and all the inflam- 

 mable brush and debris possible thrown 

 awav from the fire in order to give the 

 men an opportunity to make a stand. If 



