Notes and Correspondence 



187 



or reported. There will be a lookout on top of the mountain, always 

 watching for smoke and reporting it by telephone to the nearest patrol- 

 man without delay. 



A most important part of the protective system will be the detailed 

 organization of all available fire-fighting forces in the locality. Such 

 organizations will be formed, for example, in Mill Valley, Corte Madera, 

 Larkspur, Kentfield, Ross, San Anselmo, and Fairfax. In each town 

 will be a resident agent of the Association whose duty it will be to 

 gather and forward men,, tools, and supplies in case of fire. He will 

 have a roster of the best men available in his vicinity for fire-fighting 

 work, and these men will have agreed beforehand to fight fire when 

 called upon under certain definite terms as to pay. This agent will 

 have tools and food supplies at his immediate disposal and will for- 

 ward them to the fire-fighting line as directed by the officer in charge. 

 He will not leave his station in town during a fire. His job will be 

 not to fight fire but to assemble and forward the means of fighting it. 



In all such towns, also, will be a crew leader who will be the boss 

 of the fire-fighting forces gathered from his vicinity. He will be a 

 man thoroughly experienced in fire-fighting work, will command the 

 confidence of his men, and his authority will be clearly understood be- 

 forehand. 



In the past, much costly delay has resulted from the fact that no 

 tools were on hand with which to fight fires. To avoid this suppHes of 

 shovels, axes, brush hooks, lanterns and other fire-fighting implements 

 will be stored in boxes or cabins at convenient points all through the 

 district, so that wherever fire breaks out the means of fighting it will 

 be right on the ground. 



Fire trails are indispensable. Their construction will be spread over 

 a period of three years and at the end of that time about seventy miles 

 of line will be completed. They will be built, for the most part, on the 

 tops of ridges, will be of varying width, and will be cleared of brush 

 and all other inflammable material. When once constructed it will 

 not be a difficult or expensive matter to keep them clean. Fire trails 

 serve two important purposes. They furnish lines of communication 

 over which to rush men, tools and supplies in case of fire, affording 

 ready and quick access to all parts of the region; and they form ex- 

 cellent and very necessary bases from which to fight fires, making safe 

 ground from which to backfire if that becomes necessary. 



As a matter of course, much educational work will be done. Trails 

 and camping places will be posted with conspicuous notices calhng at- 

 tention to the danger from fire, urging caution in the use of fire, and 

 giving specific directions about what to do if fire occurs. Literature on 

 the subject will be given out in such form as readily to attract the eye 

 and impress the mind. 



For the first three years the cost of this work will be in the neigh- 

 borhood of $7,000 a year. Thereafter, when the construction work is com- 

 pleted, the cost will fall to about one-half that sum. The bulk of the 



