22 BULLETIN 1493, U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Fire lines will sometimes be necessary. At the time when it is 
proper to burn slash, fire will not run much in green timber. There 
is greater danger of the fire spreading to cut-over land once burned 
or to areas from which the logs have not yet been hauled out, and 
here some fire-line building may be a wise and necessary precaution. 
It is not within the scope of this bulletin to treat comprehensively 
of the complicated art of brush burning, but a few points may illus- 
trate what should constitute the proper carrying out of a brush- 
burning job. ) 
(1) The area selected for burning should be laid off with reference 
to topography, cover, and natural firebreaks, so that the fire may be 
heid to that area, and so that when adjoining land is logged and 
ogres the next season the fire may not trespass on the area already 
urned. 
(2) The dryness of the slash and surrounding country should be 
studied, so that both may be right before a fire is started. Burning 
slash that is too wet to burn clean is as undesirable as burning slash 
that is dangerously dry. 
. (8) A forecast of the weather should be made and the relative 
humidity of the atmosphere noted. The United States Weather 
Bureau may be consulted by phone if desirable, so that the fire will 
not be set on the eve of a hot, dry, or windy spell. 
(4) The time of day or night for the burn should be chosen with 
regard to humidity, local air currents, etc., it being borne in mind 
that a thorough, clean burn is to be desired. Never burn in the 
morning unless a rainstorm is setting in. 
(5) All equipment (tools, tank cars, hose, pumps) and a reserve 
crew should be in readiness for a fight in case the fire gives trouble. 
(6) The fires should be so set (by enough men to permit rapid 
work) that the force of the conflagration may work toward the 
center of the area to be burned; they should be set on the uphill 
side before the downhill side, and first on the leeward side, on the 
flanks next, and on the windward side last. Working down a hill- 
side in strips, or against the wind, is a good method. 
(7) Slashing should be so fired that standing patches or islands 
of polewood or immature timber may not be killed by the slash 
fire. If these are killed, they merely add to the fire danger. 
(8) Fires that get across the line or start outside should be put 
out, by the usual fire-fighting methods, especially the use of water. 
PATROL OF SLASHING AFTER BURNING 
Competent men should patrol the burned slashing until smolder- 
ing fires are out. In the case of spring burning any fires that could 
cause trouble must be put out, preferably with water, before the 
dry season begins. The area should be watched as long as any 
smoke comes from it or stray fires occur. 
SLASH DISPOSAL IN THE FOG BELT 
Further study and experience is necessary to determine whether 
in the spruce-hemlock type of the real fog belt broadcast slash 
burning after clean cutting is always good practice. As stated earlier 
spruce-hemlock slash is different in inflammability from fir slash, 
and the native vegetation so quickly reclothes the logged-off land in 
the coastal region, when there is no burning, that the fire risk returns 
