checks on the morning of August 6 and kept it up until August 

 ir, at which time he had paid all of the labor accounts except 

 few odd bills that had not been presented. Settlements of 

 fire accounts in this case, as in all others, take precedence 

 over all other bills. 



The total cost of controlling the fire was in the 

 neighborhood of $5,000.00. practically all of which was paid 

 by the Forest Service. The total area burnod over is a 

 trifle under 19,000 acros. Two-thirds of this aroa is devoid 

 of timber but was covered with a growth of brush of very great 

 value to the water-using industries of the San Bernardino 

 Valley. The damage to timber is less than would be expected - 

 not over 5^T of the mature timber and only half of the young 

 timber between ten years of age and maturity being killed. 

 Seedlings under ton years of age were, of course, consumed. 



An investigation will be made to determine the best 

 method of repairing the damage to the watersheds burned over, 

 but ao yet no plans have boon nade for planting the denuded 

 hillsides. 



At several different times, officers in charge of the 

 fight ao well ae mountaineers who have had life long experience 

 at the fire fighting game, believed they were nearing the end 

 of the fifJit. That their expectations of success wero not 

 realized was duo to the freakish winds. The judgment of Forest 

 officers is only human and all experienced fire fighters recognize 

 the difficulty of contending with high winds or forcasting the 

 outcome of efforts to control a fire when a strong wind is 

 blowing. Every specific charge against the men in charge of 

 the fight has been carefully investigated by an officer from 

 the San Francisco headquarters, and they have been entirely 

 cleared of any suspicion of inefficiency. 



Supervisor Charlton and Deputy Supervisor Long have 

 had years of experience in fighting brush fires. They have 

 been particularly successful in keeping fires out of the Forest 

 under their charge- Last year the Angeles' record for prevention 

 and prompt control of fire was the best in District 5, comprising 

 California and Western Nevada. 



Causes beyond the control of these men or the rangers 

 who assisted them were alone responsible for the failure to 

 extinguish this fire in its oarly stages. 



As coon ao it was found that there was no possibility 

 of ordering out troops, (the authority for which was requested 

 by the District Office), emergency bodies of fire fighters,' each 

 20 to 25 strong, were assembled at Bakerofield and at Bishop 

 and held "under arms" for two days. Luckily these were not 

 noeJed, but if the need had arisen at least 100 men under the 

 leadership of six experienced fire fighting rangers would have 

 been rushed to the scene from nearby Forests. 



The people and commercial organizations of San Ber- 

 nardino, Rodlands, and Riverside gave splendid cooperation in 



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