A METHODS OF COMMUNICATION FOR FOREST PROTECTION 



ized staff each member of the staff exercises all four functions. Naturally there is no 

 organized staff so completely unspecialized that there is absolutely no differentiation 

 of functions performed by different members, but nearly* all of the forest protection 

 forces of Canada ave so little specialized that the overwhelming majority of the staff 

 actually does have all these functions to perform. As in other industries so in forest 

 protection, non-specialization means independence of action and lack of close co-opera- 

 tion. Thus we find that practically all fire rangers employed in Canadian forests are 

 independent units, each supreme in his own district, performing individually all 

 functions of fire control, and neither assisting nor receiving assistance from any other 

 unit. 



Where specialization has been adopted, however, the whole organization is 

 radically different. Specialization is the basis of modern industry, and the gain in 

 efficiency that resulted from the industrial revolution is no more striking than is the 

 improvement that results from the adoption of similar specialization in forest protec- 

 tion. Obviously, no other result could reasonably be anticipated. 



Specialization in forest protection is secured by employing separate units to 

 perform each of the distinct functions revealed by the analysis of the operations of 

 forest protection. It is neither possible, nor necessary, to differentiate functions 

 absolutely in all cases, but instead of each member of the control force performing all 

 functions each is given one as a primary function and exercises the others only to a 

 very minor degree, if at all. 



Section 6 Prevention of Forest Fires 



The function of Prevention, as the name would indicate, includes all those 

 activities whose aim is to ensure that fires do not start in the forest. Statistics of 

 the causes of forest fires, upon which all prevention plans must be based, show that 

 for the eastern part of the country human agencies are responsible for at least 95 

 per cent of forest fires, while in the West about 80 per cent are thus caused. This 

 difference is due to the lightning-caused fires which are relatively more numerous in 

 the mountainous regions of the West. Fires due to human causes may be considered 

 almost wholly preventable, and a forest protection staff must be prepared to make an 

 exhaustive study of the causes of the fires with which it has to deal and to apply 

 the necessary remedies. Prevention of forest fires involves a whole host of considera- 

 tions mostly beyond the range of this discussion and even in actual application largely 

 beyond the influence of the direct control forces in the woods. Certain preventive 

 measures, however, belong primarily to the woods staff. Such, for instance, are advice 

 and warning to forest travellers and tourists. This is of very great importance in 

 many forested regions of Canad'a. A specialized forest protection force will have 

 certain of its members specifically assigned to this duty wherever the directive staff 

 determines, as a result of a careful study of fire records, that such preventive measures 

 are needed. In maintaining this observation of tourists and other travellers a well- 

 developed system of communication by which the patrol force is kept constantly 

 informed of the entrance of parties into the forest and of their movements while 

 there is of immense value. By means of it every person in the force is enabled to 

 contribute indirectly to the prevention work and to assume this as a secondary function 

 without in any way interfering with whatever happens to be his primary function. 



Similarly, the supervision of " clearing " fires employed! by settlers, an extremely 

 frequent cause of disastrous forest fires, is preventive in nature, and many other 

 activities of this kind must be provided for, according to local conditions. In all 

 cases, however, it is necessary to emphasize that the fundamental basis for scientific 

 and effective prevention work is an accurate knowledge of fire causes in any given 

 region. This is best secured by rigid investigation of all fires that occur and the 

 accumulation of statistics of causes over a period of years. 



