PROTECTING OUR NATIONAL FORESTS FROM FIRE 101 



a fire: une in the: adirondacks 



Where there are no roads or trails which will answer the purpose the Forest Service 

 advocates the construction of special fire lines. These are necessarily expensive and are used 

 only in woodlands in the better-settled portions of the country, where the property to be 

 protected is very valuable. 



season amounts to over 3,000,000 acres. 

 While accurate data have not yet been 

 received from all the forests, it is proba- 

 ble that between 6 and 7 billion feet of 

 timber was killed. A portion of this can 

 still be cut and utilized, so that it will 

 not be a total loss. The damage in 

 money cannot be accurately estimated 

 until forest surveys are made, but it will 

 probably reach over $25,000,000 if both 

 merchantable timber and young growth 

 are considered. 



The cost of fighting the fires will 

 aggregate a little over a million dollars. 

 This is a large sum, but it represents 

 considerably less than 1 per cent of the 

 value of the property saved. 



It is to be deeply regretted that there 

 was a large loss of life through these 

 fires. Altogether 76 persons in the em- 

 ploy of the Forest Service were killed 

 in fighting the fires. That more were 

 not killed was due to the skill and cool- 

 ness of the forest rangers. Where 

 relatives were found, the bodies were 



brought out and every help possible 

 given to the families. There were 35 

 persons killed whose relatives could not 

 be located. 



There were a number of men injured 

 more or less seriously. Unfortunately 

 the law does not permit paying the ex- 

 penses of the injured or their wages 

 after they ceased their work. The hos- 

 pital expenses of these men were met by 

 private subscription. The Red Cross 

 contributed $1,000. The remaining ex- 

 penses, including expenses of interment 

 of the dead, were borne by subscriptions 

 from the forest officers and other mem- 

 bers of the Forest Service. 



how the; forest fires are; started 



Railroads continue to be responsible 

 for a large number of fires. This will 

 continue to be the case until the locomo- 

 tives are either equipped with efficient 

 spark-arresters or oil is used for fuel- 

 It should be said, however, to the credit 

 of the railroads, that during the past 



