PROTECTION 123 



and food for fire fighters are stored at convenient 

 places. The Ranger stations and lookout houses 

 are connected with the office of the Forest Super- 

 visor by telephone, so that men may be quickly 

 assembled to fight a dangerous fire which the pa- 

 trolman cannot subdue alone. Each Forest Su- 

 pervisor endeavors to secure the cooperation of all 

 forest users in the work of preventing fires and in 

 reporting and helping to fight them in case they get 

 started. 



Probably the beginning point of any discussion 

 of forest fires is a consideration of their causes. 

 The Forest Service has kept careful records year 

 after year (by calendar and not fiscal years) con- 

 cerning the cause, the damage, the area burned 

 over, the cost of fighting and many other matters. 

 During the calendar year 1917 there were 7,814 

 forest fires on the National Forests. Of these the 

 National Forests of California had to contend with 

 1,862. Of the total number of forest fires 40 per 

 cent, were confined to less than *4 of an acre, 28 

 per cent, to less than 10 acres, while 32 per cent, 

 spread over areas greater than 10 acres. The large 

 percentage of small fires shows how efficiently the 

 National Forest fire protection organization works 



