870 



Canadian Forestry Journal, December, igid 



Finding Fires With Aeroplanes 



Practical Information by an Aviator, Who Describes 

 Advantages and Costs of an Air Patrol 



By 

 IV. E. Boeing, 

 President, North- ^vesi Aero Club. 



[In view of the great interest taken 

 throughout Canada in the possible em- 

 ployment of the aeroplane in forest fire 

 detection, the Journal reproduces a 

 most interesting paper read by W. E- 

 Boeing, President of the Northwest 

 Aero Club, before the Logging Con- 

 gress of the Western Forestry and 

 Conservation Association at Portland, 

 Oregon, a few weeks ago. There are 

 included, also, the questions which 

 were put to Mr. Boeing and the an- 

 swers he gave. — Editor.] 



"We will now take up the question 

 of the feasibility of the aeroplane in 

 connection with forest fire patrol. 

 Under clear weather conditions the ori- 

 gin of smoke is very easily detected, in 

 fact smoke emanating from a chimney 

 or bonfire often serves the pilot in de- 

 termining the direction of the wind 

 near the surface on which he is going 

 to land, as it is good practice only to 

 land coming into the wind. The pres- 

 ence of a minute amount of smoke is 

 readily discernible from the higher alti- 

 tudes, as it is one of the most con- 

 spicuous objects against the land 

 which presents itself to the aviator 

 when at a considerable altitude. 



"In corresponding with the State 

 Conservation Commission of Wiscon- 

 sin, to ascertain the results obtained 

 by L. A. Vilas, who volunteered his 

 services and his machine for aeroplane 

 patrol purposes in 1915, Mr. Moody, a 

 member of the commission, in reply en- 

 closed copy of some notes which he 

 read before the Forest Fire Conference 

 at Boston last winter, which are of 

 considerable interest. They are in 

 part as follows : 



Can See Sixty Miles. 



"'At an elevation of 1500 feet on a. 

 clear day, a fire 60 miles away in any 

 direction is visible to the naked eye. 

 It is not a case of finding the fire, but 

 to locate it correctly is the job. Smoke 

 will show up very plainly from the air. 

 Mr. Vilas reports that during a flight 

 across Lake Michigan from St. Joseph 

 to Chicago, he was completely out of 

 sight of land or anything for that mat- 

 ter for over three-quarters of an hour 

 at an altitude of 4,600 feet. The first 

 thing that he saw was the smoke from 

 the Chicago rolling mills. This was 

 in sight over ten minutes before any 

 shore line was visible at all- People 

 often ask what a country looks like 

 from the air. It is difificult to describe- 

 it except that it looks like a large 

 painted map on a small scale without 

 section lines. The efficiency of an 

 aeroplane in spotting a forest fire is 

 without doubt as practicable as any 

 use to which it could be put. I was 

 very much surprised with what ease a 

 fire could be spotted and located, and 

 there is no question in my mind but 

 what the aeroplane will practically do> 

 away with some of the observation 

 towers. 



" 'The use- of the aeroplane in the 

 European war in the way of spotting 

 and locating gun fire, armies of men, 

 supply trains, etc., is well known ; all 

 of which objects show up comparative- 

 ly small in comparison with forest 

 fires.' 



"The observations of Mr. Vilas are 

 most interesting coming from the only 

 one who has actually undertaken work 

 of this character. 



