300 THE PRINCIPLES OF HANDLING WOODLANDS 



special pack outfit ready to be thrown upon horses and 

 taken at once to the fire. Such special outfits usually 

 include shovels, collapsible pails, axes, mattocks, ropes, 

 and in some cases fire-extinguishers, and a small quantity 

 of provisions to enable fire fighters to camp out over- 

 night if necessary. Where there are good roads, as in the 

 woodlot regions, special fire wagons have been used to 

 advantage. These consist of an ordinary wagon of the 

 Concord type, furnished with a complete equipment of 

 tools, bucket-pumps, fire-extinguishers, water-tanks, or 

 barrels, etc. The author has used on his own tract in 

 Pennsylvania a crude fire wagon consisting of a two- 

 seated buckboard provided with a special galvanized-iron 

 water-tank with a capacity of about 1 yi barrels. The 

 wagon is also equipped with two fire-extinguishers, two 

 bucket-pumps, one-half dozen buckets, shovels, rakes, 

 axes, and such other tools as are needed in fighting fires. 



Organization of the Fighting Crew. — It is important 

 that there be in charge of the fighting crew some one 

 in authority to thoroughly organize the work. A small 

 crew, well organized, can do much more effective work 

 than a loosely organized large crew. One of the advan- 

 tages of the fire-warden system adopted in a number of 

 States is that the warden has authority not only to impress 

 men to fight fire but to direct their work. 



The efficiency of the fire-fighting crew depends very 

 largely on their skill and experience, and particularly on 

 the skill and experience of the man directing the work. 

 It is not only a question of knowledge of how to assign 



