12 Miscellaneous Circular 19, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
WHAT IS BEING DONE TO REDUCE FOREST FIRES. 
In several of the small towns in the intermountain region where 
forest fires are most frequent and dangerous you will find special 
offices of the Forest Service. These are fire dispatchers’ offices. 
Drop in some hot summer afternoon and see what sort of a place 
you have there for the protection of your forests. You will see no 
shining brass of powerful engines, no hose, no ladders, or other 
tools of the city fire fighter—just a small room with many maps on 
the wall, and a big desk where a man sits with a telephone close at 
hand. Perhaps quiet reigns, and you may find the fire dispatcher 
in charge glad to talk with you. Soon the telephone bell rings. 
You can gather from the one side of the conversation that Ranger 
Black is on his way down to the Johnson corral, if anybody wants 
to know where he is. Then from another call it seems that Tiptop 
lookout wants some potatoes and kerosene as soon as_ possible. 
Tiptop is 60 miles 
away and 5,000 feet 
above the surrounding 
valleys. The dispatcher 
suspends his talk with 
you while he calls the 
storekeeper in another 
town and tells him to 
be sure to include 
kerosene and “spuds ” 
in the order going out 
by pack train early 
next morning, carry- 
ing supplies to all the 
“back country.” <An- 
other call comes. 
“ What’s that—106?” 
| Shea snaps the fire dis- 
Fic, 7.—Operating a fire finder under difficulties. patcher, “Fork of Bear 
Creek?” You know by 
his manner that something different has come over the wire. “ Yes; 
Lone Peak ought to see that. Il call them.” And he hangs up. 
“Fire up Bear Creek way. Smoke coming up pretty good,” he 
says as he cranks the telephone. : 
“Hello, Lone Peak? * * * Qh, just trying to get me, were 
yous * * * Yes: Liptop sreports: 10 on L0G. ie eeeee 
twenty-eight for you, is it? * * * All right; we'll have some- 
body after it right away.” 
He hangs up the receiver and goes to a map, where he takes two 
threads, one fastened at Lone Peak and one at Tiptop. Around 
each of these points is a circle graduated into 360°. He swings the 
threads so that the one from Tiptop cuts the circle at 106°, and the 
one from Lone Peak cuts its circle at 328°. ‘The two lines cross at a 
point down near the forks of Bear Creek, just as Tiptop judged. 
\gain the dispatcher sits down at his telephone. He gets “ Smoke- 
chaser” Smith. 
‘ Smith,” he says, “there’s a fire down on the mountain between 
the forks of Bear Creek. Tiptop and Lone Peak both see it, and it 
eee eee 
