96 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 
Idaho. Cut off by the flames with his band of fifty 
men, chiefly foreigners, his knowledge of the country 
enabled him to lead them to an abandoned mine tunnel. 
Placing a wet blanket over the tunnel mouth to keep 
out the smoke, Ranger Pulaski with drawn revolver 
kept the fire fighters, half-crazed with fear, from rushing 
out into the flames. One man did make his escape 
only to perish. The remainder, owing to the great 
courage of their leader, came through with little injury, 
although he, owing to his position at the mouth of the 
tunnel, suffered serious burns from which he did not 
recover for months. 
Fire fighting on a large scale is much like real war- 
fare. An army of men must be mobilized and 
dispatched to the front. They must be divided into 
squads under the command of an experienced man and 
remain subject to his control. Weapons, in this case, 
picks, shovels, mattocks, saws, axes, etc., must be 
furnished. Blankets and camp equipment must be 
brought in and food and water must be supplied to 
the men on the firing line. In the big fire in southern 
Idaho in August, 1914, over one thousand men were on 
the line at one time, and to keep up the fighting effi- 
ciency of this regiment, one hundred miles from the 
nearest railroad, required a systematic organization 
closely resembling those employed in army maneuvers. 
Automobile trucks and pack trains moved in a con- 
tinuous procession from the railroad to the commissary 
on the line, for men to fight fire must be well fed. 
When a fire has gotten into the crowns and goes 
rushing away cross country from ten to twelve miles 
an hour there is little that can be done in the daytime. 
For while the sun is hot, the fire burns fiercely, and 
even if there is no wind the suction created by the 
