128 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



high winds were concerned, as the year 1910. Diu-- 

 ing these years, however, the fire fighting organ- 

 ization had a good chance to be tried out thor- 

 oughly; for, as is quite evident, experience is the 

 greatest teacher in this kind of work. During the 

 calendar year 1916 the fire losses reached a new low 

 level, compared to other years, the losses amount- 

 ing to only $198,599. In 1917 they were higher. 



The Forest Fire Problem Stated. Having seen 

 a little of the causes, behavior and results of forest 

 fires on the National Forests, it is comparatively 

 easy to state the forest fire problem as it occurs on 

 the National Forests. Briefly stated, it is this: 

 With the funds, organization and equipment that 

 are available, the aim of the Forest Service is to 

 keep the area burned over each year ( and therefore 

 the damage done) down to an accepted reasonable 

 minimum. But the problem is not as easily worked 

 out as it is stated, due, largely, to a great many 

 uncontrollable and variable factors which cannot be 

 foreseen in advance, the most important of which 

 are the weather conditions. As has been said be- 

 fore, there are two general ways of keeping the 

 area burned over down to an accepted reasonable 

 minimum: either prevent the fires from getting 



