Apr. 15, 1925 
Use of Liability Ratings in Forest Fire Protection 
737 
Table VI.— Average costs of suppress¬ 
ing fires, according to time elapsed be¬ 
tween detection and start of suppression 
work —Continued 
REGION 19—SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO 
AND NORTHERN NEW MEXICO 
Forest types 
o 
JG 
--' 
8 
a 
CB 
s 
£ 
Western yellow 
pine 
Douglas fir mixed 
Spruce and sub- 
alpine 
Lodgepole pine « 
Pinon-juniper 
Brush 
Grass 
Dol- 
Dol- 
Dol- 
Dol- 
Dol- 
Dol- 
Dol- 
lars 
lars 
lars 
lars 
lars 
lars 
lars 
7.50 
13.00 
25.00 
20.00 
1.75 
5.00 
7.00 
l_ 
9.50 
18.00 
34.00 
30.00 
2.00 
6.00 
9.00 
2*- 
14.00 
28.00 
47.00 
50.00 
2.15 
7.00 
12.00 
3_ 
17.00 
40.00 
53.00 
66.00 
2.30 
8.00 
16.00 
4_ 
20.00 
50.00 
59.00 
83.00 
2.45 
9.00 
20.00 
5_ 
23.00 
61.00 
65.00 
100.00 
2.60 
10.00 
25.00 
G_ 
26.00 
72.00 
69.00 
115.00 
2.80 
11.00 
30.00 
7_ 
29.00 
81.00 
72.00 
130.00 
3.00 
12.00 
35.00 
8_ 
32.50 
90.00 
77.00 
145.00 
3.25 
13.00 
41.00 
9... 
36.00 
99.00 
81.00 
160.00 
3.50 
14.00 
46.00 
39.50 
106.00 
85.00 
170.00 
3. 75 
15.00 
54.00 
12.... 
47.00120.00 
94.00 
195.00 
4.00 
17.00 
67.00 
15.... 
59.00145.00 
104.00 
230.00 
4.25 
20.00 
94.00 
20.... 
83.00190. 00 
123.00 300.00 
1 
5.00 
27.00 
145.00 
° For lodgepole pine, figures for Region 13 wer e 
used. 
REGION 21—LAKE STATES 
Time elapsed (hours) 
i 
Forest types 
Eastern white 
and red pine 
(green) 
White and red 
pine (slash, 
etc.) 
Jack pine 
(mostly slash) 
Other timber 
(green)® 
Open 
i 
Dollars 
Dollars 
Dollars 
Dollars 
Dollars 
M .. 
3.00 
9.50 
18.00 
3.00 
5.00 
1_ 
4.00 
11.50 
21.00 
4.00 
6.00 
2_ 
4.50 
16.00 
23.00 
4.50 
7.00 
3_ 
5.00 
21.00 
27.00 
5.00 
9.00 
4_ 
5.50 
27.00 
31.00 
5.50 
10.00 
5_ 
6.00 
34.00 
35.00 
6.00 
11.50 
6_ 
6.25 
41.50 
39.0Q 
6.25 
13.50 
7_ 
6. 75 
49.00 
44.00 
6. 75 
15.00 
8_ 
7.25 
58.00 
48.00 
7.25 
17.00 
9_ 
7. 75 
69.00 
51.00 
7.75 
18. 50 
10_ 
8.00 
79.00 
55.00 
8.00 
21.00 
12 _ 
9.00 
100.00 
66.00 
9.00 
25.00 
15_1 
10. 50 
145. 00 
83.00 
10.50 
32. 50 
20_j 
13.00 
235.00 
115.00 
1 
13.00 
47.00 
_ , ___ ____ 
_ 
_ 
° Because of insufficient data for fires in other 
timber types (spruce, balsam, tamarack, hard¬ 
woods), the same figures were used as for white 
and Norway pine green. 
AMOUNT OF DAMAGE DONE BY FIRES 
Damage varies directly with area 
burned, and therefore may be ex¬ 
pressed on an acre basis. The ques¬ 
tion of damage is the most difficult part 
of the whole problem, for several 
reasons. In the first place, no satis¬ 
factory method has yet been devised for 
putting money value on the less tangi¬ 
ble elements of value present in a forest. 
Even the value of merchantable timber 
can be determined with a reasonable 
degree of accuracy only where such 
timber is so located as to be immediately 
saleable, and the value of the same tim¬ 
ber varies more or less from year to 
year. In case of young growth, a num¬ 
ber of complications enter which make 
it almost impossible to value it on a 
scientific basis, or rather, to determine 
the monetary loss in case of its de¬ 
struction or injury by fire. The fire 
reports, in the majority of cases, en¬ 
tirely neglect to evaluate the damage to 
young growth, or estimate it so crudely 
and inconsistently that the figures are 
worthless. Damage to forage is ig¬ 
nored, not only because of the extreme 
paucity of data, but also because the 
existing data indicate that such damage 
is less than the probable error in esti¬ 
mating damage to timber. In study¬ 
ing the records of individual fires, then, 
it was decided to ignore the estimates of 
damage expressed in dollars, and to con¬ 
sider only the data as to quantity of 
damage expressed in board feet of tim¬ 
ber and acres of reproduction. The 
fire records are particularly incomplete 
on these points, especially in regard to 
reproduction destroyed, but they repre¬ 
sent all the information that can be read¬ 
ily obtained. For those fires within each 
type and subregion for which data were 
available regarding amount of damage, 
the average damage per acre burned 
over was ascertained. The figures 
given in Table VII are in each case 
averages for all burns in the given 
types, regardless of age class or 
density of stand, so should not be 
taken as indication of the amount of 
damage in mature well-stocked stands. 
For this reason the average amount of 
damage given for the mixed pine type 
of the Sierras, for instance, is less than 
the amount indicated by studies made 
in mature stands. It is important to 
know the relation between the quan¬ 
tities of timber and young growth 
present on the burned area before the 
fire and the amount destroyed—in other 
words, what the ratio of destruction is. 
Data on this point are even more frag¬ 
mentary than those on the total amount 
of damage, but such as are available 
were compiled. *- 
