44 HANDBOOK FOR Cx\MPERS. 



In short, light burning, in order to make the forest safe 

 against future fires, must not be '' light," but must be a fire of 

 exactly the sort that it is the object of. the practice to prevent. 

 Fortunately, the light-burning method is no longer advocated to 

 any great extent. 



HINTS ON FIRE PROTECTION. 



The first thing is prevention. Bear in mind the Six Rules. 

 Be particularly careful with camp fire, matches, and tobacco, 

 since carelessness with these is punishable by law. 



Scrape all inflammable material from around the fire before 

 lighting it. Make a fire place either by digging a hole or by 

 piling up rocks. The fire will then not only be safer but will 

 draw better. 



Before leaving camp see that the last spark is extinguished. 

 Pour water on the embers and then cover them with earth. 



Don't make your fire too large. Large fires are not as con- 

 venient to cook by as small ones and are more trouble to put 

 out. 



If you discover a fire, go to it at once and put it out of you 

 can. A small fire can be put out easily by throwing handfuls of 

 earth, sand, or dust at the base of the fiame. The flames may 

 also be beaten down with sacks or with branches, but care must 

 be taken not to scatter the fire. 



If the fire is spreading too rapidly to be attacked directly, 

 cut and scrape a trail some distance ahead of it. Do not back- 

 fire; this is work for an experienced man. If a fire is serious 

 enough to require this treatment, the work should be left to a 

 ranger. 



The best tools for fire fighting are the shovel, ax, and hoe 

 or rake. In open pine forest very little ax work will be re- 

 quired. Shovel or rake a trail through the needles down to 

 mineral soil, and guard the trail. 



To stop a fire burning in brush the trail must first be cut 

 witk the ax and then scraped. The brush should be thrown to 



