8 POTLATCH TIMBER PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 



work a? quickly as possible and the temptation to put a shovel, 

 an axe or a saw into the hands of every able-bodied man, but I 

 also feel sure that by yielding to this temptation we lose hundreds 

 of dollars on every large fire by reason of men claiming more 

 time than is due them and our inability in many cases to prove 

 that such claims should not be allowed. 



I believe this condition can be remedied to some extent, at 

 least, by taking a little more time in organizing each crew before 

 sending it onto the fire line and by placing enough timekeepers 

 with each crew so that the time of every man can be taken at 

 least four times a day. By doing this I think we would gain 

 enough in the efficiency of the crew, to say nothing of the saving 

 in wages effected, to more than pay the wages of the timekeepers 

 and make up for the decreased size of 'the crew actually fighting 

 fires by reason of using a few of the men as timekeepers. 



I do not mean that it should be inferred we do not have time- 

 keepers. We do; but I think that our timekeeping system can 

 be improved and on large fires the number of timekeepers could be 

 profitably increased. 



SELECTION OF FIRE FIGHTERS 



There is a great difference in the value of men as fire fighters. 

 Some men who have the requisite courage and willingness to do 

 work of this kind are utterly unfit for it by reason of their physic- 

 al limitations. An office or store clerk or a barber, for instance, 

 would find that his back would give out and his hands become so 

 blistered in an hour of fire fighting that he would be entirely use- 

 less thereafter for several days. A railroad section hand is usually 

 able to shovel all days without inconvenience or fatigue but he 

 knows nothing of the work. He has to be carefully shown just 

 what to do as often as conditions change and is apt to have an 

 exaggerated fear of the danger of getting lost or cut off by the 

 fire if he gets separated from the balance of the crew. Illustra- 

 tions of the point I wish to make might be multiplied indefinitely. 



The woodsman, the lumberjack or the homesteader in the 

 timbered country makes the best fire fighter, not only because he 

 is accustomed to the use of such tools as are employed in fire 

 fighting and is physically able to work all day with them, but also 

 because he feels perfectly at home under conditions obtaining in 

 the timber, knows just what to do under nearly every condition 

 likely to arise, has no fear of getting lost, and, in short, makes 

 a wonderfully efficient fire fighting unit, capable of independent 

 action and of taking good care of himself. In addition to all this 

 he has a good conception of the value of the resources threatened 



