FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 291 



cycle and railroad speeders, and mounts for upwards of 750 men. It provides 

 for the organization in advance of the fire season of all available volunteer help 

 — some 10,000 men — and for their quick equipment, transportation, and imme- 

 diate payment for services. It is highly organized and under strong centralized 

 control. Its cost for maintenance and fire fighting varies from $150,000 to 

 $250,000 per year. 



WHAT IS TO BE DONE 



OF course a thousand refinements of organization or improvements of 

 method are necessary to perfect the best protection system we have. 

 But these do not need discussion for a State which not only has no 

 protection system but no law authorizing one. 



The paid patrolmen of the Forest Service do not actually put out any of the 

 larger fires which occur on the National Forests. They are put out by volunteer 

 help — settlers, mill crews, stock men. The Forest Officers summon them, equip 

 them, organize them into crews, and direct their work in extinguishing fires. 

 The National Forest protective system furnishes the apparatus which turns anti- 

 fire public sentiment into a fire-suppressing machine. In case of fire, each 

 National Forest Guard is a rallying point for the citizens within his patrol division. 



But this machine for changing unorganized enthusiasm into extinguished 

 fires exists only over a scant one-third of the forest area of the State. The 

 necessity for it exists to a far greater degree over the other two-thirds. The 

 county firewarden organization has failed, and no forester ever expected the 

 volunteer fire warden system to become an organization. 



A striking example of the lack of a rallying point was seen at the Mount 

 Tamalpais fire of July 6-12, 1913. 



After the Tamalpais fire the citizens in the affected district immediately began 

 to inquire how they could insure against a recurrence of the disaster. After a 

 study of the laws they were forced to the conclusion that the State of California 

 was impotent to help them, and accordingly they have organized and financed 

 the Tamalpais Fire Association, employed their own forester, and are proceeding 

 to install their own fire prevention and suppression system. 



The State needs a system — however small at the start — that will serve to 

 prevent many fires from starting and will suppress many others in their incipi- 

 ency; that will serve as the framework on which to organize volunteer help to 

 extinguish fires, just as the National Forest protection system does within its 

 field or just as the regular army and the State militia do within theirs. 



Such a State system would tie in to the National Forest system on the one 

 hand and offer facilities for organized cooperation with timber land owners on 

 the other. Such a system, backed by the splendid public sentiment which is almost 

 universal throughout California, is essential to further real progress in fire pro- 

 tection in the State. Until a bill similar to the measure recommended to the last 

 legislature by the Conservation Commission is signed by the Governor, discussion 

 of other phases of the fire protection situation is not warranted. The State of 

 California is responsible for the most serious obstacle in the way of reasonable 

 security from fires within her borders. 



