Measures for the Prevention of Forest Fires, 



Froin the German of Dr. M. Kieniiz, Boyal Forester and Professor of Forestry at 

 the Forestry Academy of Eherswalde ; translated by Ellwood Wilson. 



Fire is one of the greatest dangers of 

 the forest, not only for a virgin stand with 

 its litter of dead trees and fallen dry limbs, 

 but also for a cultivated forest with its 

 thick even-aged stand which in its youth 

 is so easily destroyed by fire. 



A forest fire is 'absolutely dependent on 

 the inflammability of the ground cover, and 

 if this consists of green herbs or if it is 

 entirely removed so that the mineral soil is 

 exposed a fire is impossible. 



Every fire has a small beginning, burn- 

 ing at first in dry moss, grass, fallen leaves 

 or needles, without harm to the trees, until, 

 according to the amount of combustible ma- 

 terial and the character of the stand, it 

 sooner or later strikes into the crowns and 

 the whole forest sinks in a sea of flame. 

 Arrived at this stage, a conflagration knows 

 no boundaries, the crown fire rushes ahead 

 of the ground fire, leaps over great ob- 

 stacles, showers burning sparks across water- 

 courses or meadow-land, kindling new fires 

 on the farther side. A crown fire can only 

 continue to burn if the ground fire follows 

 it and if the flames can continually rush 

 up the trees. If the ground fire loses com- 

 bustible material over a wide strip, the top 

 fire goes out. On these facts are based our 

 methods of fire-fighting. 



Extinguishing Forest Fires. 



It is easy to put out a fire just started, 

 a green branch covered with leaves or needles 

 swept over the ground in the opposite direc- 

 tion to that in which the fire is travelling, 

 not beaten up and down on the flames, soon 

 drives back and extinguishes it. Once the 

 flames are out, all glowing coals must be 

 smothered by stepping on them, beating 

 them out, or covering them with earth, or 

 the fire can be confined by a furrow made 

 with a grub-hoe, spade or plow, throwing 

 the earth toward the fire. 



The same principles apply to large fires 

 as long as they are ground fires; but it may 

 happen that the heat is so great that near 

 approach is impossible or the number of men 

 available too small to cover the front of the 

 fire. In that case it must be gradually 

 reduced by fighting from the sides until it 

 is conquered. (See Figure 1.) The newly 

 extinguished places behind the fire must nat- 

 urally be watched to prevent it springing 

 up anew behind the fighters. If the fire 

 has already reached the crowns, these means 

 will be of no avail and a back-fire must be 

 started. 



A back-fire can be used where the front 

 of an oncoming fire gives an opportunity 

 to light a row of small fires which can burn 

 towards the main one without spreading 

 backwards. Good places are roads, trails, 

 railway lines, brooks, moist hollows where 

 the grass is green, etc. Naturally the back- 

 fires burn into a closed line against the wind, 

 slowly along the ground, and without catch- 

 ing into the tops and except in very young 

 stands will do no material damage. As soon 

 as the back-fire reaches the wind- driven main 

 fire it will be seized by the rising air cur- 

 rent, and will be carried into the tops 

 against the latter, with which it will unite. 

 This meeting kills both fires because there 

 is nothing in the path of the fire on the 

 ground to burn, and the crown fire, having 

 no nourishment, dies out. 



Preventive Measures. 



In cultivated forests places to start pos- 

 sibly necessary back-fires should be provid- 

 ed at the time of planting. In favourable 

 situations strips fifteen feet wide must be 

 left bare and in seasons of especial danger 

 they must be kept bare by plowing or dig- 

 ging. These strips answer the purpose ex- 

 cellently. The loss of ground is trifling, as 

 fifteen feet is soon practically covered by 

 the meeting of the crowns in middle age. 

 Besides they serve as roads for removing 

 thinnings, or they can be sown with fodder 

 crops, — saradella, for instance, which fur- 

 nishes food for game and prevents deer 

 from feeding on young trees. 



In well regulated forests, it is not suffi- 

 cient to make rules for extinguishing fires, 

 but means must be taken to see that no fires 

 start. Police and legal regulations practi- 

 cally prevent fires started by human agency. 

 In countries like Germany, where the knowl- 

 edge that it is necessary to protect and care 

 for the forests has penetrated to practically 

 every class of the population, it has become 

 possible steadily to decrease the number of 

 fires set through malice and carelessness. 

 Eegulations requiring every dweller near a 

 forest to help fight fires without pay are 

 willingly obeyed by the majority, and in 

 countries where conditions are as favorable 

 as they are in Germany, the number of fires 

 would yearly diminish were it not that one 

 circumstance increases them. 



The Railway Danger. 



This is the growing number of new rail- 

 ways through the forests and the steadily 

 growing traffic on those already built. Every 



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