896 



Canadian Foresiry Journal, Januari/, 1917 



BETTER APPARATUS FOR FOREST 

 FIRE FIGHTING 



Some Results of the First Year's Experience with Portable 

 Pump Under Practical Conditions 



By H. C. Johnson, Fire Inspector, Board of Railway Commissioners 



for Canada. 



The writer endeavored in the Jan- 

 uary, 1916, issue of this journal to 

 give a description and explain the 

 proposed manner of using a system of 

 portable gasoline pumping units de- 

 signed by him and built for the Dom- 

 inion Parks Branch for service in the 

 Dominion Parks of Canada to be 

 employed in forest fire fighting. These 

 fire fighting units are also used for 

 the controlling of certain operations 

 carried on in the forest in which fire 

 is used such as slash burning and 

 back firing. Earlier theories in con- 

 nection with the introduction of these 

 units have now been put into prac- 

 tice and actual results have been 

 obtained. 



The first unit was built and put 

 into service during the summer of 

 1915. It was used to control slash 

 burning operations in the Rocky 

 Mountains - Park and proved very 

 efficient in this work, enabling burn- 

 ing operations to be safely carried 

 out in very dry weather and com- 

 plete control of the whole situation 

 maintained. 



During the fire season of 1916 six 

 units were put into service in the 

 Dominion Parks, two units were put 

 into service by the St. Maurice For- 

 est Protective Association in the 

 Province of Quebec and several units 

 were also put into service in other 

 parts of Canada and the United 

 States. Many inquiries from all over 

 the continent were received and, 

 strangely, the majority of these came 

 from private owners of forested lands, 

 which would indicate that private 

 owners of such property are wide 

 awake to the possible destruction 



of their timber by fire and are anx- 

 ious to provide up-to-date protection. 



Put To The Test. 



One of the claims made for this 

 type of power pumping apparatus 

 was that it could be transported prac- 

 tically anywhere or to any point 

 where a man or pack horse could go. 

 During the past fire season this has 

 been confirmed and put into practice 

 by the Dominion Parks Branch in 

 the Rocky Mountains Park and the 

 St. Maurice Forest Protective As- 

 sociation in Quebec. The photo- 

 graphic illustrations shown here well 

 illustrate the various methods used 

 by the Dominion Parks Branch to 

 transport these pumping units. View 

 (1) shows several pumping units to- 

 gether with hose and auxiliary supply 

 of gasoline being transported in a 

 Ford truck along the main highway. 

 View (2) shows two pack horses being 

 used to transport two units, one 

 horse carrying two engines and pumps 

 and a second horse carrying the hose 

 and auxihary supply of gasoline. 

 View (3) gives a good idea of the 

 manner in which power canoes can 

 be utilized to move the outfits from 

 point to point on lakes and rivers. 

 View (4) shows how on railway lines 

 track motor cars are used to carry 

 the outfits to a point nearest the 

 scene of a fire. View (5) shows the 

 method of transporting the engine 

 and pump by two men; slings from 

 the stretcher handles pass over the 

 men's shoulders which enable the men 

 to let go of the handles, if necessary, 

 when passing through rough country 

 or climbing. These five views show 



