ADAPTING COMMUNICATION METHODS TO FOREST PROTECTION 21 



of intercommunication systems in the forests, is just beginning. This temporary 

 equipment must be as inexpensive as possible, because it is merely temporary. It must 

 be capable of transmitting messages over long distances. Simplicity and ready portabil- 

 ity of equipment are desirable. It must be fairly easy to operate and be reasonably 

 certain and reliable. 



Among all the various signalling apparatus previously described the heliograph 

 alone meets these requirements. A heliograph costs, complete, from thirty to sixty- 

 five dollars, about the cost of a single mile of telephone line. Its range is much 

 greater than the ordinary maximum distance required in forest work. It is remark- 

 ably simple in construction and the new forest-protection type is easily carried by a 

 horse patrolman. Experience has shown that with a few days expert instruction 

 intelligent rangers can acquire sufficient skill in its use to form the basis for attain- 

 ing speed by individual practice by themselves. In speed it cannot be compared with 

 electrical systems and it has the further disadvantage of operating only in full sun- 

 light. The lack of speed may to some extent be compensated by adopting a code of 

 pre-arranged messages, as will be later described, and the necessity for full sunlight 

 is also to a certain degree compensated for by the fact that periodls of dull weather 

 are very likely to be periods of low fire-danger and, therefore, lessened need for 

 communication. Heliograph stations must, of course, be visible from each other. 

 This requirement is the most serious limitation on the use of this instrument, but not 

 when used on lookout stations where it is most frequently employed. 



2 SUPPLEMENTARY EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT ON LOOKOUTS 



A further need for a means of communication other than the telephone is found 

 in the equipment of permanent lookout stations even after they are connected with 

 the telephone system. Lookout stations are absolutely dependent upon communica- 

 tion for the maintenance of their successful operation. No form of electrical com- 

 munication dependent upon aerial wires is wholly safe against interruption, and such 

 interruptions- are particularly likely to occur during heavy storms and thunder-showers. 

 This introduces a dangerous element of uncertainty, especially in the West where a 

 great many forest fires are started by lightning, and the chances of the lookout being 

 isolated by the very storm that is causing fires to spring up is a hazard that cannot be 

 ignored. The most effective way to guard against this is to take a leaf from the book of 

 military experience and provide auxiliary means of communication for use when the 

 usual means fail. For this purpose the heliograph is again the most suitable apparatus 

 and a permanent use for some of the temporary installations may thus be secured. 



3 PATROLMEN 



Still another use for supplementary means of communication arises with the patrol- 

 men. As previously explained, these units are usually assigned to sections of known 

 fire-risk, such as railways or other important routes of travel. Railway patrolmen 

 are usually adequately equipped if provided with a portable telephone for connection 

 to the lines paralleling the right of way, but patrol in a region remote from railway 

 lines may be isolated from telephone connection. Such patrolmen should, if possible, 

 be enabled to maintain communication, but the messages they need to send are likely 

 to be of considerable length. It is, therefore, necessary with each route to weigh the 

 time required to signal the usual message against the average time needed to reach 

 the nearest telephone line, and on this comparison make a decision in regard to the 

 equipment to be furnished. In a region covered by lookout stations it should be quite 

 easy for such patrolmen to establish communication with a portable heliograph in case 

 the distance to the telephone line is too great. 



