NORTH 
SHORE BREEZE and Reminder 13 
Forest Fires and Fire Protection 
Mountain Observation Stations Big Factor in Forest Fire Work—the Tower at Manchester 
By FRANK E. HAYNES of the State Forester’s Office 
4 Bee subject of forest fires 
is one that should receive 
careful consideration of the 
citizens of all states through- 
out the entire country because 
the problem of eliminating 
them is a national one. Every 
state has its share, and the 
losses entailed by them reach 
figures each year that are truly 
staggering. It has been com- 
puted that since the settlement 
of America began there has 
been destroyed by forest fires 
more lumber and wood pro- 
ducts alone than has been cut 
and manufactured for use of 
the entire people in the build- 
ing up of the nation. 
Although the tremendous 
annual losses from these fires 
have been realized generally for 
a long time it has only been 
within the past few years that 
any organized and conservative movement has been made 
to shut out the forest fire evil. This movement to a large 
extent had its inception in the general awakening of 
the people to the fact that the forest resources of the 
country are fast being depleted and that something 
must be done to help conserve them. 
The movement has reached from coast to coast in 
the past few years and has resulted in the establishing 
of State Forestry boards and commissions in twenty- 
six states, and many private organizations. It is keen- 
ly realized by the many exponents of the forestry 
movement in town, state and government work that 
eonstructive forestry and all that it stands for cannot 
be carried on with magnitude until the forest fire evil 
is to a large extent eliminated. 
The present Mass. Forestry Fire Protection System 
is one result of the larger forestry movement that has 
gradually been taken up, state by state. 
Although Massachusetts has for a long time suf- 
fered annually from severe forest fires it was not until 
1911 that a decided movement was made by State For- 
ester F. W. Rane to suppress them. Previous to that 
time the State Forester, while keenly realizing the seri- 
ousness of the fire question, was in no position to do 
much on account of having no funds for the work. 
In 1911 the legislature appropriated the sum of $10,- 
000 with which to start the necessary work, and no 
time was lost in getting an organization together. Mr. 
M. C. Hutchins, the present State Fire Warden, who 
has had several years’ experience in New York State 
on similar work, was put in charge of the Massachu- 
setts problem, and has been persistently at work since 
in perfecting a system which at the present time 1s 
admitted to be equal or superior to any in use In any 
state. 
The Massachusetts system is built up around the 
main idea that forest fires must be located, reported, 
and suppressed as soon as possible after they start. 
With this point in view there have been erected on 
commanding elevations throughout the state a series 
of mountain observation stations from which the fires 
are located in this incipient stage. Each station is 
equipped with first-class telephone service which en- 
ables the mountain observers, after locating a fire to 
report quickly its location to the fire warden or deputy 
in the town in which the fire oceurs. The warden and 
his deputies are then responsible for the suppression 
of the fire. 
These mountain towers, of which there are twenty- 
two in use at the present time in Massachusetts, are 
big factors in the forest fire work and are, perhaps, 
the most interesting. They are of heavy steel con- 
struction, range in height from 30 to 60 feet, and cost 
complete from $200 to $800. They were designed 
especially for the needs for which they are used and 
are considered a standard type for use in other states. 
Maine has recently purchased twenty of them for use 
in the forest protection work of that state. The range 
of view obtainable from those here in Massachusetts 
will, when the system is completed, cover nearly every 
acre of land in the entire Commonwealth. 
The Manchester tower, so-called, located on Morse 
Hill in Essex an elevation of one hundred and eighty 
feet, is a tower of the most recent type erected for 
state use and constitutes station M of the state system. 
Other stations nearest to that in Essex are on Bald 
Pate hill in Georgetown, elevation three hundred and 
forty feet; Hart Hill in Wakefield, elevation two hun- 
dred and forty feet, and Robbins Hill in Chelmsford, 
elevation four hundred feet. These latter three sta- 
tions with the one in Essex completes a quartet of 
towers that command a complete view of the entire 
northeast section of Massachusetts. 
The observer in the Manchester tower is charged 
with the care of the area comprising the well-known 
North Shore, and surounding section. The tower les 
about two miles, air-line distance, northeast of Man- 
chester village and about a quarter of a mile off the 
main highway between Essex and Manchester. It is 
readily accessible and after leaving the main highway 
a fair woods road makes possible the reaching of the 
tower by team or foot. The tower itself is built upon 
a solid rock, has an eighteen foot base, is forty feet 
high from base to top of abutments and has on top an 
observation room 12 x 12 feet square, 8 feet high and 
glass encased. This station is fitted out with spiral 
stairs, making it possible for anybody to reach the ob- 
servation room without danger or inconvenience of 
any kind. 
A trip to the Manchester station will well repay 
any person interested. Once inside the observation 
room an uninterrupted view in all directions is spread 
out before the observer. Although the station is ex- 
pected to cover only such area as falls under a fifteen 
mile radius range, it is possible on clear days to see 
much farther than this. 
To a person not acquainted with the region the 
amount of forest area that is seen from the tower is 
surprising. An excellent example of what damage fire 
will do in forest property is offered in viewing the area 
directlv under the tower itself. This area which was 
burned over three years ago is a veritable eyesore and 
