SPECIALIZED FOREST PROTECTION 5 



Section 7 Detection of Forest Fires 



The method of performing the function of Detection has to some degree become 

 a distinctive characteristic of a specialized staff. In the usual type of organization 

 with little or no internal co-operation or interdependence of units, each ranger must 

 depend upon himself alone to detect and locate all fires in his district. To accom- 

 plish this he adopts various methods according to the nature of the country and 

 forest, the causes of fires, and his own energy, experience, and ingenuity. To some 

 extent he relies upon reports received from various volunteer sources, supplementing 

 this with patrol of routes of travel, and 1 , if the region is favourable, with observations 

 from commanding peaks, ridges, or even unusually tall trees. If he sights a smoke from 

 a distance he can determine its location only by his knowledge of the country, aided 

 by a map if he has one and knows how to use it. In most cases his determination is 

 likely to be only a mere approximation and much time is lost in searching for the 

 fire and making the exact location. This done, he must then undertake its suppres- 



Fig. 1 Lookout station on a Dominion forest reserve in British Columbia 



sion either alone or with such assistance, often inadequate, as he is able to summon 

 to his aid. During the Suppression period, the protection of his district will most 

 lively be left entirely to chance. The fatal weakness of this system is the slowness 

 and uncertainty with which it operates. One of the most efficient fire-preventive 

 organizations in the world has as its motto " Minutes Count " and nowhere in the 

 course of a fire do they count more disastrously than in the first few hours. Prac- 

 tically all forest fires start as mere sparks. A neglected or half-extinguished camp- 

 fire, a carelessly dropped match, the spark from a pipe or an engine, or some other 

 similar insignificant source gives rise to the great bulk of disastrous fires. At the 

 start and for some little time afterward, according to the weather, the season, and 

 other local conditions, all such fires are easily within the power of one man to 

 extinguish. But as they increase in size they increase even more rapidly in intensity. 

 What was at first only a spark soon becomes a conflagration which only a very large 

 crew of mon can make headway against. The lesson, therefore, that every ranger 



