Use of Telephone Lines in Fighting Fire 



(From American Forestry.) 



In fire-fighting a minute may mean 

 millions. To realize the truth of this 

 statement one has only to inspect a 

 trained fire department, used to 

 guard the lives and property, in any 

 city. ]\lost of us are more or less 

 familiar Avith their time-saving de- 

 vices; Ave have admired the splendid 

 horses taught 1)y months of patient 

 labor to spring to their places at the 

 sound of the gong, have seen them 

 harnessed to the truck in the time it 

 takes to press a button, and have ob- 

 served men drop to their places from 

 the tloor above. All this training 

 and expense to save a minute's time 

 in the battle against the fire-demon, 

 in a city where man has used his ut- 

 most ingenuity to build so as to 

 thwart the ravages of this element. 



Compared Avith such a Avell organ- 

 ized system the (U. S.) Forest Ser- 

 vice methods seem crude indeed. One 

 man Avith an axe and shovel guards 

 from 100.000 to 200.000 acres of tim- 

 berland. worth from $500,000 to $5,- 

 000.000. In the greater part of these 

 forests nature seems to liaA'e invited 

 their destruction by strcAving the 

 ground Avith a carpet of dry leaves 

 and resinous needles, and covering 

 the branches and trunks Avith moss 

 that. Avhen dry. burns almost as 

 quickly as gunpoAvder. For one man 

 to attempt, single-handed, to check 

 a conflagration under such circum- 

 stances seems Avorse than foolhardy; 

 and yet. let it be told to the credit 

 of the tribe Avho Avear the Forest 

 Service badge, that Avhen necessity 

 demands they pit their strength and 

 cunning against the flames, and 

 sometimes, aided by night dcAvs and 

 bulldog endurance, Avin out. The 

 Forest Service records could reveal 

 many such cases of Avhich the public 

 has never heard. It is only when 



the battle has been lost and the fire 

 becomes a public menace that the 

 matter gets into print. 



It is obvious that chances are all 

 against eonriuering a fire of any 

 magnitude under these conditions ; 

 consequently, every human endeaA'or 

 is used to prevent the starting of 

 such conflagrations. During the dry 

 summer mouths a ranger's Avaking 

 hours are spent in patrolling the 

 routes frequented by traA^elers, to ex- 

 tinguish neglected camp-fires, and in 

 searching his district Avith a field 

 glass from some lookout point, to 

 detect the first faint column of smoke 

 that means the beginning of a forest 

 fire. 



With so much territory to coA^er. it 

 is a physical impossibility to haA^e all 

 parts of the district under his super- 

 vision at all hours of the day. There 

 Avill come a time when several fires 

 Avill start at once. The causes are 

 A'arious : sometimes they are set by 

 lightning from the electrical storms 

 that are common in a mountainous 

 country ; more often they are due to 

 carelessness of campers or tourists ; 

 occasionally they are started Avant- 

 only by some person Avho objects to 

 the arm of the laAv, as represented 

 by the forest ranger, reaching back 

 into the Avild places; again, it may be 

 that an unextinguished match, or a 

 spark from a pipe or cigarette is 

 dropped in the dry humus, as the 

 hunter or prospector Avanders in 

 places remote from the generally 

 traveled trails. The spark ignites 

 the sloAv-burning duff, Avhich smould- 

 ers perhaps for days unseen, the 

 thin smoke being lost in the blue 

 of the spruce tops above it; sloAvly 

 it burns its Avay to the resinous roots 

 or mossy trunk of some conifer; the 

 mountain breeze fans it to a flame ; 



72 



