148 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



disastrous to get too many men as it is too few. A 

 few men that know how to attack a fire are worth 

 a great deal more than a great many that are in- 

 experienced. 



There are different kinds of fires, depending 

 upon their size, their intensity, and the nature of the 

 country in which they are burning. And there are 

 as many different methods of fighting fire as there 

 are kinds of fires. Some fires, such as grass fires or 

 those burning in the needles and litter in the forest, 

 can be extinguished directly by being smothered or 

 beaten out. For this purpose Rangers sometimes 

 use their saddle blankets, when nothing else is 

 handy, but usually wet gunny sacks, boughs, and 

 tree branches are used. Often, if it is available, 

 sand or dirt is thrown on the fire with a shovel. 

 Surface fires are a little more difficult to extinguish. 

 They are more intense and more swift and consume 

 brush, young growth, and fallen dry trees. These 

 usually cannot be attacked directly, but must be 

 controlled indirectly by the building of a trench 

 or a fire break, or by a system of back firing. 

 Trenches are fire breaks in miniature, usually from 

 one to several feet wide. Fire breaks or fire lines 

 are broad belts from 30 to 50 feet wide, which are 



