Report of the Forest Commission, 93 



gigantic leaps, but sparks and embers kindle new fires on the ground, so that 

 the flames below almost keep pace with those above. 



The work of fire-fighting is done in many interesting ways. The lone settler, 

 when he sees that the inevitable course of the flames is toward his little home, 

 summons his wife and family and starts a counter-fire at the edge of the clear- 

 ing, keeping it under control by beating it with small branches of bushes and 

 trees. When this has burned itself out he goes further into the woods and 

 burns still more and more until on the endangered side there is a large burned 

 tract over which no other fire can rage. Then, if the great fire be near by that 

 time, he wets the roofs of his buildings, so that flying sparks can not readily 

 ignite them. Then he rests comparatively secure. This is the best and most 

 effective manner of fighting forest fires and is the one usually used. Occa- 

 sionally, though, in spite of all precautions, houses and barns are burned, and 

 more than one family has fled for life before the flames. A few years ago an 

 entire hamlet in a lower county was wiped out. Fire had been raging in the 

 surrounding woods for several days, but. as the wind held steadily in one 

 direction, no danger was thought to threaten the hamlet. Suddenly the wind 

 shifted, and the flames swept with fiendish vigor, like racers, upon the devoted 

 settlement. Over the five miles of graceful pines they roared and raged, and 

 in a few minutes — alarmingly few — and before counter-fires could be burned 

 the flames had reached the western edge of the clearing. There they paused 

 as though baffled, meanwhile licking up the underbrush and dead leaves. 



Then the church bell rang joyously. The hamlet was saved ! But the joy 

 was short-lived. The wind increased suddenly to a gale, a big pine standing 

 near the church was fired, and in an instant a great long arrow of flame shot 

 from its top and struck the belfry. At once the cedar shingles were flame- 

 swept, and as the resounding bell t -lied the structure fell in. The main build- 

 ing soon followed, and then the entire hamlet was burning at one time. So 

 quick and terrible was the work of destruction that the inhabitants saved but 

 little of their worldly possessions. 



The situation of the people was perilous and pitiful. They had to remain on 

 the scene. Escape was impossible, for fire soon raged in the woods surround- 

 ing the clearing and the forest for miles around was a mass of flames. It was 

 some eight or 10 miles to the next village, the nearest place where shelter and 

 food could be found. So there, by the ashes of their homes and surrounded 

 by a few terrified domestic animals that had escaped destruction, they sat in 

 sad silence through all that long day and night of terror before it was safe to 

 wearily tramp to the next settlement. 



A forest fire at night is awfully weird and grand in appearance, far exceed- 

 ing in magnificence any pyrotechnic display, and needs only to be seen to be 

 appreciated. Oh, the wild revelry of the flames, transforming the great woods 

 into a veritable glowing inferno ! The grandeur, the force and fiendishness of 

 the scene awe the beholder. Smoke, like a pall drawn over the sky, shuts out 

 the moon and stars, making the blasting blaze below more keen and creating a 

 background against which the finer details, the intricate embroidery and 

 delicate, unique engraving of the flying flames stand out in bold relief. 

 Nearly all the time serpents of fire are wriggling from the branches, while 

 occasionally a python of flame enfolds a tree top and then with venomous hiss 



