FOREST RESERVE MANUAL. 29 



In handling back fires great care is required to avoid the 

 useless burning of forest. 



In all kinds of fires, the night or the early morning hours, 

 are the best time to work, whenever any choice of time exists; 

 for nearly all forest fires die down more or less during the 

 cool of the night, and then flare up again during the heat of 

 the day. 



Generally, we may say: 



(a) Protect the valuable timber rather than the brush or 

 waste. 



(b) Never leave a fire unless driven out, or until it is put 

 out. 



(c) Young sapling thickets suffer more than old mature 

 timber. 



(d) A surface fire in open pine woods, though not danger- 

 ous, does great harm in destroying the seedling growth. 



{e) A fire rushes up hill, crosses a crest slowly, and is more 

 or less retarded in traveling down. Therefore, if possible, 

 use the crest of the ridge and the bottom as your lines of 

 attack. 



(/") A good trail, a road, a stream, an open park, check or 

 "bring down" the fire. Use them whenever possible. 



(g) A bit of thinking often saves labor and makes work 

 successful. Ill-planned efforts suggested by haste and excite- 

 ment rarely lead to success. 



Expenses. — While the Government is willing and anxious 

 to prevent and fight fires, and is willing to go to considerable 

 expense therefor, it is unreasonable to suppose that an unlim- 

 ited amount of money is to be devoted to this effort. Experi- 

 ence has proven conclusively that in most cases a reasonable 

 effort is all that is justified, and that a fire which can not be 

 controlled by 20 to 40 men will run away from 100 or even 

 more men, since heat and smoke in such cases make the direct 

 fight an impossibility. 



Unusual expenditures will not be tolerated. They are 

 unnecessary, wasteful, and even mischievous. For it is 

 claimed, in not a few cases, that the fire was started and 

 thrived because of the opportunity for a job. In and about 

 nearly every reserve it is possible to enlist the cooperation of 

 the better citizens, and thus to have such an agreement that 

 in time of need there can be had a sufficient number of men, 

 and men of the proper kind. A crowd of men hastily gath- 



