4 LEAFLET 4 0, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICTTLTUKE 



Every risk should be given close study, and direct and specific 

 action should be taken for its control, reduction, and eventual elim- 

 ination. Every agency of forest protection, public or private, 

 through persistent personal contact should bring home to the town 

 resident and the landowner a realization of the value of forests and 

 range kept free from fire and of the loss to the individual and com- 

 munity that results from fire. There should be developed in each 

 community and throughout the South a public sentiment against 

 woods burning and a determination to do away with it. 



Every educational facility available should be brought into play. 

 The motion picture and illustrated lecture should be used to bring 

 to every southern schoolhouse and meeting house a forest-protection 

 message for old and young. The press, the billboard, the poster, 

 the community fairs and expositions should all play their part. 



Fire danger should be reduced by clearing rights of way, making 

 sawmills safer, and adequately safeguarding brush fires. 



Those who can not be persuaded by education must be reached 

 by other methods. Laws honestly, fearlessly, and fairly enforced 

 must be called to the public aid. 



Preparedness 



Systematic preparation to cope with woods fires begins where pre- 

 vention stops. Even with the woods burner restrained, and care- 

 lessness hedged about with every possible precaution, we shall still — 

 while men are human — have some fires in our southern woods. We 

 must, therefore, have for every protective unit: 



A system of detection which will accurately locate every fire that 

 occurs, within the fewest possible minutes after the first appearance of 

 smoke. 



A means of communication by which the message that fire has broken 

 out at a given place may be brought quickly to the nearest warden, 

 ranger, or other person whose duty it is to attend to it. 



Tools, supplies, and equipment of the right kinds, in adequate quanti- 

 ties, kept in the right places. 



Organized man power and means of transportation which will insure 

 that the fire reported can be hit quickly and hard before it gains 

 headway. 



Fire Suppression 



The last resort in fire-protection effort is actual fire suppression. 

 Its aim is to extinguish the fire completely with the least possible 

 damage in the shortest time. This requires energy, thoroughness, 

 and organizing ability on the part of leaders in fire control. Pro- 

 viding effective fire suppression is a task which requires the best 

 thought and cooperative effort of both the public and the land- 

 owners. 



By working unitedly on such a cooperative program of fire pro- 

 tection for the South, including prevention, preparedness, and sup- 

 pression, public and private agencies and landowners, backed by 

 the popular will, can make and keep the forests and ranges, of the 

 South productive. 



U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1929 



