234 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October, ipij. 



fire in a town or city. Most of us 

 are only too familiar with the sight 

 of firemen dashing to a fire, putting 

 up their ladders and rushing up with 

 their hose to swamp out the fire with 

 water. Forest firemen also go as 

 fast as they are able to the scene of 

 the fire but as they have to go in 

 canoes, or along bridle-paths over 

 stumps and stones, it is impossible 

 to take along a fire-engine. And 

 even if one could be taken along it 

 would be useless because forest fires 

 generally occur where there is no 

 water near by. 



The question was pertinent again 

 because anyone who has ever seen a 

 small patch of forest burning knows 

 that men are not able to stand for a 

 long distance in front of the fire, 

 that is in the direction in wdiich the 

 wind is blowing the heat and smoke. 



Yet in spite of lack of a good sup- 

 ply of water at hand and in spite of 

 the smoke and heat men do fight 

 forest fires and bring them to a 

 stand and finally put them out. 



Like Cattle Stampedes. 



How do they do it? 



They do it in some respects like 

 a cowboy stops a frightened, stam- 

 peding herd of cattle. 



Out on our prairies in Alberta and 

 Saskatchewan, when a herd of cat- 

 tle stampede and start to rush 

 across the country like a dozen ex- 

 press trains gone wild, no cowboy 

 endeavors to stop them by riding 

 out in front of the herd and shout- 

 ing and waving his arms. The herd 

 would trample rider and horse just 

 •as they would a clump of sage brush. 

 The cowboy in such a case rides up 

 alongside the foremost steer and 

 keeping up with him gradually 

 crowds him over towards the centre 

 of the herd. This steer crowds over 

 on the next and so on until the 

 whole herd gradually turns slightly 

 in that direction. The cowboy keeps 

 up the process, crowding and crowd- 

 ing, till presently the whole herd, 

 without knowing it, is travelling in a 

 circle. Thev travel around and 



around until they tire themselves 

 out and the stampede comes harm- 

 lessly to an end. 



Fight from the Sides. 



In the same way the forest fire- 

 fighters crowd the fire in at the 

 sides narrowing its front and turning 

 it toward some natural obstacle as a 

 river, a swamp, a steep hill, etc. 



If you will look at diagram No. 1 

 and suppose that all the country is 

 covered with forest you will see how 

 fire-fighters work. The fire is trav- 

 elling in the direction of the arrow. 

 The fire-fighters designated by the 

 letters "R, R" are spread through 

 the forest in the direction of the 

 wind to put out fires which may be 

 started by sparks blown from the 

 fire. A line of firemen edge the 

 fire toward the river and at a con- 

 venient place a trench is dug down 

 to the mineral soil and all the leaves, 

 grass and brushwood scraped out of 

 the way. The idea is that when the 

 fire reaches the trench it will die out 

 for want of something to burn. 



Hozv Do They Use IV at erf 



How do the men edge the fire 

 over ? 



They beat it out with green 

 branches or with bags and sacks 

 soaked in w^ater. The water is car- 

 ried from the nearest creek or river 

 in canvas buckets and used very 

 sparingly, for often it has to be 

 brought some miles. Where horses 

 can be used the water is carried in 

 canvas bags attached to the pack 

 saddle. At the trench sometimes 

 common water-pots, such as are 

 used in gardens, are employed to 

 sprinkle the ground and stop the ad- 

 vance of the fire. In other cases 

 the canvas water-bags are fitted with 

 sprinkler nozzles and are used like 

 watering pots. Most of the water 

 however is used to saturate the bags 

 and the clothes of the fire-fighters. 



Hozv Back Firing is Done. 



In the second diagram the fire is 

 shown in a forest region where there 



