Forestry Notes 



323 



technic of fighting them provides that the first day is taken up 

 with assembling the fighting force and making all preparations for 

 a direct attack on the flames as soon as the wind and heat die 

 down the first night — usually about 6 p. m. It is very seldom that 

 any fire in a normal season is not corralled the first night. A study 

 of the minimum temperature records at Sisson (Shasta National 

 Forest) shows that from August 1st to 15th, while the Sisson fire 

 and six other bad fires were burning in Northern California, the 

 night temperature averaged seven degrees higher than those for the 

 same period in 1910 — our worst previous year. The fact that the 

 nights were warm enough to allow fires to burn fiercely all night 

 was the very worst feature of the 1914 emergency and was the 

 reason for the continued spread of the Sisson fire for five days in 

 spite of the fight against it. 



Under these circumstances, a great many fires outside but near 

 the forests that in a normal year would be left to chance or to 

 the unorganized efforts of local residents, had to be attacked as 

 promptly and as decisively as possible by the Forest Service or- 

 ganization. To have done otherwise would have meant a repetition 

 of the disaster of 1910. 



NUMBER OF FIRES AND CAUSES 



The following table shows the number and causes of the fires 

 in District 5 from January 1st to October 15th. 



The records by ten-day periods show that August 11th to 20th 

 was the frequency peak of the season, when fires occurred at the 

 rate of seventeen per day; the normal for this period being thirteen 

 per day. A comparison of the number of fires this season from each 

 cause, with the normal number as established by averages from 

 1908 to 1913, is interesting: 



During 



Normal for District 1914 Season 



Number lightning fires 274 48U 



Per cent of total 34% 33% 



Number caused by human agency.. 524 988 



Per cent of total 66% 67% 



Railroads 38 70 



Brush-burning 39 45 



Campers 109 340 



Incendiaries 66 212 



Sawmills 19 69 



Unknown 170 141 



Miscellaneous 83 111 



Total 798 1,468 



A large number of fires starting is in itself serious, but what is 

 even more serious is where and how they start. During August, 

 a vicious incendiary outbreak occurred on two ranger districts of 



