-2- 



Then Mr. Randall reminded no that as a calamity a big forest 

 fire ranks with flood, and pestilence, and fajnlne, and earthquake. 

 We forget most of them. But some fires, because of the lives lost, 

 property destroyed, or large areas burned, have become historic. 



For example, there was a big one in Maine and New Bininswick 

 back in 1825 which burned over three million acres and killed one 

 hundred and sixty people. In Wisconsin, there was a fire in 1871 

 which killed fifteen hundred people and burned over a million two 

 hundred and eight thousand acres. That same year, a forest fire in 

 Michigan bufned two million acres of timber land. There was another 

 big one in Michigan in 1891 in which one hundred and thirty-eight 

 people lost their lives. Hov/ever, a forest fire in Minnesota v/hich 

 burned over a much smaller area cost the lives of four hundred and 

 eighteen people. 



You can follow the blackened trail of the Fire Demon in the 

 woods on through the years. You may remember the big fire in Idaiio 

 and Montema, in 1910, when two million acres were burned and eighty- 

 five persons lost their lives. 



That was the fire in which Forest Ranger Ed Pulaski and 120 

 men were trapped in the flaming forest. Fifty of the men broke 

 away in a panic but lost their lives in the fiery forest furnace. 

 As the flamee swept through the canyon in which they were. Ranger 

 Pulaski managed to herd the rest of his men into an abandoned mine 

 tunnel. He ordered them to lie down on their faces, while he 

 stood at the tunnel mouth and held them in at the point of his gun. 

 Pulaski eyes were injured by the heat and smoke, but he saved his 



men all but five, who were suffocated because they did not obey 



his orders to keep dovm. 



That is just one of the many stories of heroism by the Forest 

 Rangers of the U. S. Forest Service. Fighting fire is no 

 frolic. 



But when Mr. Randall was telling me that story, I got to 

 thinking of the fire protection service with its system of lookouts 

 and communication for spotting fires and giving v/arning. Also the 

 arrangements for getting men and equipment to the scene of the fire. 

 The Forest Service now usee airplanos in reconnoitering large fires 

 and is experimenting v.-ith portable radio sending sets to be carried 

 by fire fighters. The Forest Service is constantly improving its 

 fire protection service. Thoughts about that prorripted mo to say; 

 "With all your system of fire fighting is the forest fire situation 

 getting better or worse?" 



"Both", Mr. Randall replied promptly "The danger of men-cau od 

 fire is greater than it used to be, but on the other hand, orgsinized 

 protection is getting more effective all the time." Then he called 

 ray attention to the fact that a forest fire in Minnesota in 1918 

 destroyed a town of 8,000 people, and that fourteen Forest Service men 

 were killed in forest fires just last year. That doesn't count the per 

 sons not listed among the fire fighters. Last year nearly a million 



