HANDBOOK FOR CAMPERS. 41 



(4) Leaving camp. — Never leave a campfire. even for a short 

 time, without quenching it with water and then covering it with 

 earth. 



(5) Bonfires. — Never build bonfires in windy weather or 

 where there is the slightest danger of their escaping from con- 

 trol. Don't make them larger than you need. 



(6) Fighting fires. — If you find a fire, try to put it out. If 

 you can't, get word of it to the nearest United States forest 

 ranger or State fire warden at once. Keep in touch with the 

 rangers. 



These rules have been compiled for the guidance of the public, 

 by observing the general practice of foresters and other woods- 

 men in their use of fire in the mountains. Most of them have 

 been enacted into law, and the penalties for their violation are 

 severe. Campers should observe them scrupulously. 



The work of detecting and suppressing forest fires has been 

 greatly systematized in recent years. Nowadays fires are re- 

 ported mainly by lookouts, whose function is not to fight fires 

 but merely to discover and report them, and by the flying look- 

 outs of the airplane fire patrol, who cover the Forests at least 

 once each day. The lookouts are located on commanding peaks, 

 and remain on duty continuously. They are equipped with the 

 ^necessary instruments and housed in cabins, from the interior 

 of which the entire area under protection can be kept in view. 

 Each Forest has several lookouts. Where the same area is 

 under observation from two or more, the location of a fire can 

 be determined very accurately, even at a distance of many 

 miles from either. 



The lookout is in communication with the district ranger 

 either by telephone or heliograph. Telephone service is the 

 most certain and satisfactory, but heliographs are used in situ- 

 ations where other facilities are lacking or are too costly. On 

 receiving a report from a lookout, the ranger in whose district 

 the fire is located takes immediate steps to put it out, and in 

 fighting a forest fire it is as necessary to be prompt as it is in 



