12 FOREST FIRES 



the rights of way were kept cleared of combustible material, 

 and if spark arresters were kept in repair. It is only right 

 that the roads should be made to pay for their negligence, 

 whether intentional or not. 



The difficulty that an owner often has in getting a small 

 claim adjusted has caused a great deal of ill-will toward 

 the roads. If the damage amounts to only a few dollars, the 

 claimant can hardly afford to hire a lawyer and take the 

 matter into court, and he must take whatever the road chooses 

 to give, whether it is nothing or a fair equivalent for the 

 damage done. The aggregate of these small claims over a 

 long stretch of road may amount to a considerable sum which 

 the roads may or may not pay as they see fit. The roads are 

 learning, however, that it is good policy to adjust these small 

 claims as promptly as possible. 



PART III. METHODS OF EXTINGUISHMENT AND 

 PREVENTION 



There are several methods of extinguishing forest fires. 

 The method must necessarily change with changed condi- 

 tions. 



In some cases the fire gets into the crowns of the trees 

 and leaps from tree to tree. Such fires never occur except 

 in coniferous stands and are known as crown or top fires. A 

 crown fire is the most difficult of any to extinguish. An 

 effective stand against it may sometimes be made along a 

 brook or roadway, when it burns out as a crown fire and can 

 be fought as a surface fire. If there is time an opening in 

 the crowns may be made by felling a line of trees in front 

 of the fire, or the opening already made by a road may be 

 widened by felling. In the case of young growth a back or 

 counter fire may be started. The principle upon which back 

 firing is done is that the original fire starts a backward draft 

 which causes the back fire to move against the direction of 

 the original fire, and when the two meet they burn out for 

 lack of fuel. A back fire is heroic treatment and should be 

 employed only in extreme cases and then only by an experi- 

 enced fire fighter. 



