100 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN 



burned at a cost far less than that of otherwise frequent shut- 

 downs of the entire camp to fight fire or rebuild bridges, to 

 say nothing of loss of timber. 



Patrol 



The best way to prevent fire is to prevent it. Putting out 

 fires already started is better than letting them burn, but as 

 the real foundation of a protective system it is about like 

 lowering a lifeboat after the ship has struck. Only by patrol 

 can the incipient spark or camp fire be extinguished before 

 it becomes a forest fire that has to be fought, taking hours or 

 days instead of minutes. One patrolman can stop 100 in- 

 cipient fires easier than 100 men can stop one big fire. Fires 

 in the forest may never be wholly averted, but patrol will 

 prevent them from becoming "forest fires." 



This is why the progressive lumberman no longer waits 

 till forced to lay off his crew to fight, spending in a day or two 

 a patrolman's salary for a season, shutting down his road and 

 mill for lack of logs, and perhaps in spite of all losing several 

 thousand dollars' worth of timber and equipment. It is also 

 why the progressive non-operating owner no longer considers 

 fire loss the act of God, to be reckoned as an investment risk 

 of several per cent. The man who does not patrol his timber 

 nowadays is like a millman who hires no watchman, has no 

 hose or sprinkler equipment, and carries no insurance. He 

 may escape loss, but by not making a reasonable effort to in- 

 sure against it he takes a course practically unknown with 

 other forms of property. 



Modern fire patrol is systematic. Trained and organized 

 men have definite duties. Tools, assistance and supplies are 

 available at known points and without delay. Trails and 

 look out stations, often supplemented by telephone lines, give 

 the greatest efficiency with the least number of men. Above 

 all, the system is based on the fact that results are most 

 truly measured not by the number of fires extinguished but 

 by the absence of fire at all. Settlers, campers and lumber- 



