Forest Fire Prevention and Control.

An address delivered at the Reorganization Meeting of the Central Pennsylvania Protective Association, Phillipsburg, Pa.

T

HE way of the world is changing, and the methods we use in forest fire protection are no exception to this rule. During the past twenty-five years the forest fire situation in our State has passed through three distinct stages. The first is well remembered by many, the time when forest fires were allowed to burn unmolested. Possibly some of you recollect how the firelines were watched at night as they crept slowly up the mountain sides and no person thought of the money value that was going up in smoke nor of the result which the fire was bound to have upon the forest growth of the future. The second stage was the time when a few of our patriotic citizens fought the fires. Then their entire effort was expended in extinguishing fire after it had started. Today we are in the third stage, that of fire prevention. Preventive measures are better than remedial. We now try to prevent fires from starting. Any rational protection policy must deal with removing, as far as possible, the agencies by which forest fires are started.

We are all familiar with the different theories for the suppression of forest fire. Some of these are practical, some are not. If you want to make a favorable impression upon a person who knows little about these agencies, some of the theories will answer your purpose; but the Central Pennsylvania Protective Association is out for results, and you must pick out theories that are practical. There are plans which will work successfully in one locality, but will not apply to another. It is evident we must choose those suitable for the district for which the plans have been made.

The keynote of a successful business undertaking is "organization." Prevention and control of forest fires is a business undertaking and you must have an efficient organization. Men differ in ability to organize. This is the reason for successes and failures. Your Association was well organized and you were getting results which should encourage you to reorganize and extend your work. It will be necessary to prepare two sets of plans. The one will deal with Fire Prevention and the other with Fire Control; but bear in mind, the results you get will be in proportion to the thoroughness of the plans and the ability of those who prepare them.

Fire Prevention.

In formulating your prevention plans you must know what agencies have caused your fires. This you will need so that the greatest effort may be exerted upon the greatest offender. In Pennsylvania, statistics show that railroads have caused the greatest number of fires. Brush burning is second, followed by incendiaries, campers, and lumber operations. Is this the order of their importance in your district? If not, what is it? Let us suppose that the agencies which start fires in this district are in the same order of importance as for the State. You then must make your greatest effort against the railroads.

RAILROADS: It has been proved that a railroad company can prevent nearly all of the fires which are started by their engines. The companies know this, and during the year 1918, out of 492 fires originating on railroad rights-of-way they paid for 172 of them. But railroad officials are not unlike the rest of us. We are willing to do everything we can provided someone will keep after us and encourage us; and that is what we must do with the railroad companies, keep after them and see that they use all possible preventive measures.

Every engine should be equipped with an effective spark arrester. If an arrester is used after holes have been burned through it, after the fireman has punched a hole through it so that his engine will have a better draft, or if it is not properly fitted to the boiler or stack, live sparks will be thrown out and we must expect the usual result.

The ash pan should close tightly so that no live coals may drop out. There is no doubt that some of the fires which originate on railroad rights-of-way come from this source.

If the right-of-way is properly cleared of inflammable material the danger is greatly lessened. Places along the railroad where fires frequently start should be burned over before each fire season, or at least once a year. It may be necessary to obtain the consent of adjacent land owners and burn a strip from 100 to 200 feet wide to get the proper results. Your association should co-operate with the railroad companies in burning strips along the danger sections. The width of the strips will depend largely upon the topography.

Organization against those persons who have been guilty of careless brush burning is largely a matter of education. These persons must be taught not to take a chance at burning brush during the dry seasons. In the matter of clear

ing land it is easy to get on the right side of the owner and have him burn at the proper time and have sufficient men there to keep it under control, because you know he intends to do these things and you can warn him of the danger. But it is the fellow who touches a match to a small brush pile, grass or weed growth before first thinking it over, that we must deal with and the only way to get him is through education. Fire wardens and patrolmen should talk with persons who are apt to start such fires and have them burn only when it is damp. If their attention is called to the danger they will not likely take a chance. Posters and signs tacked up in woodlands should describe this fact clearly. Special newspaper articles would warn of the danger in brush burning during dry sea

sons.

The plans against incendiarism will be very similar to those used against careless brush burners because again it is largely a matter of education. The more intelligent people become in this behalf, the more they realize the need of preventing fires. While the number of incendiary fires is growing less each year, we still have persons living in wooded regions who think it necessary to have forest fires to increase the berry crop, to improve the pasture, or to open the woods for hunting. These people ought to be handled with tact and must be shown the value of green forests. Fire protection officials, especially patrolmen and fire wardens, should use caution in matters which interfere with any of the supposed rights of the mountain people. We must have their good will if the effort is to succeed. Education through signs, circulars, and newspaper articles, and personal contact with individuals when mingled with tact, are efficient methods for stopping incendiary fires.

Each year the forests of our state are used more freely for hunting, fishing and general recreation. Persons accustomed to camping know the danger which lurks in the coals of an unextinguished camp fire or the lighted match or cigarette carelessly thrown away; but inexperienced persons must be taught. Here again posters and signs tacked up in the woods will reach them directly and have a lasting effect. A person will stop to read a sign in the woods which he would pass by if placed elsewhere. Patrolmen and fire wardens should in a kind way caution all persons met in the woods during the fire season. During rainy and damp days patrolmen may make and post signs, call on the local people to talk over the fire problems, and at places frequented by campers they might build a

few fireplaces. Anything that will attract the attention of people in the woods may be used for educational purposes.

Sparks from sawmill engines have been responsible for many fires in this state. A gentleman who has studied the lumber industry, says that 80 per cent. of the men who go into that business fail financially, and one of the causes for these failures is forest fires. If the matter is properly explained no lumberman will refuse to equip his engine with an efficient spark arrester and clear away the debris near his mill. Before each fire season every sawmill should be inspected to make sure that no fire hazard will develop.

In summary, then we should co-operate with railroad companies so they will equip their engines with proper spark arresters, see that ash pans fit tightly, and remove inflammable material from their right-of-way. Fire warning signs should be posted conspicuously through the woods, circulars distributed to the local people, and the newspapers supplied with timely articles relating to fire prevention. The wardens and patrolmen should caution kindly all persons met in the woods during fire season as to proper care with fire in the forest. Every sawmill and dinky engine should be inspected before each fire season and the owner not allowed to operate unless he has installed an efficient spark arrester; and in the case of sawmills the inflammable material immediately surrounding the mill should be removed so that the sparks which might slip through the arrester will not start a fire.

Fire Control.

Even though we are careful and use all precautionary measures possible, some fires will start. These must be detected immediately because delay is always costly. On the State Forests we have found patrol service, tower observation telephones, and forest roads indispensable.

PATROL. We must have our patrol. In the west one man often covers 40,000 or 50,000 acres but in the east where conditions are so much different, it is necessary that the service be more intense. In the Boalsburg Fire District one man covers from 9,000 to 14,000 acres, according to the topography, and we are getting excellent results. Patrolmen should be hired by the month, and when it is wet and patrol not necessary, they should mingle with the local people, talk over fire problems, open roads, tack up posters, make signs, and do similar work.

TOWERS. According to the lay of the country,

towers should be erected on several of the high points in the district, to afford a commanding view over a large territory. Towers need not be expensive. If it is not necessary to make them higher than 40 feet or 45 feet, they may be made of chestnut or dead pitch pine with a cost not to exceed $50.00. In locating a tower you should always take into consideration the distance from the observer's home and from the nearest telephone line. A tower without a telephone line to it is of little value. Some kind of shelter should always be provided for the observer, because there are days in spring and fall when it is too cold to remain on these bleak points without some kind of protection against the weather.

ROADS AND TRAILS. The number of roads and trails will depend upon the value of the material to be protected, the extent of use of the forest by the public, and the probable fire danger. There was a time when wide roads and trails were advocated but the cost of upkeep is too high in proportion to the amount of protection afforded. We have found that six or eight feet is wide enough and at many places four or five feet will answer the purpose. It will be necessary to rebrush most of the roads and trails each year or two, but if the width is small the cost will be in proportion.

THE CREW. If a fire starts you must have men to extinguish it unless your patrolman reaches it before it gets much headway. The organization of the crew will depend largely upon local conditions.

out for any length of time. The list of provisions should be taken to a local store and arrangements made by which the store keeper, when notified, would send the bill of foodstuffs to the fire.

TOOLS. Each warden and patrolman should have access to a full set of fire fighting tools. These should be kept at his home or in a tool box located at a convenient place in the district. The equipment should consist of hand axes, double bitted axes, cross cut saws, fire torches and supplies of oil, fire rakes, several garden hoes, and, if possible, some kind of a fire extinguisher with shoulder straps to carry water. This water is used to extinguish smouldering stumps, logs, roots, etc. Drinking water for the men can be most conveniently carried in canvass covered canteens or in the absence of these a two gallon stone jug answers the purpose very well.

CARE OF THE CREW. All men are human and fire fighting is hard work. Transport the men as far as possible by automobile so that they will not be wearied before they reach the fire. See to it that there is drinking water for them, and, if it is necessary to keep them out long at a time, supply them with good food and plenty of it. To get the best service from a man he must not be allowed to go hungry. Let the men know you are looking out for their interest and they will help you out gladly when you need them again. John W. Keller.

force that can be depended upon each man may be assigned his work beforehand. This is the best way, and six or eight men who know their work will do as much as twice the number when not organized. But too often we must take the men we can get and then the warden must make the best of the circumstances.

The warden should, before each fire season, make a list of the available men who can be obtained for fire fighting. Their telephone numbers, if they have telephones in their homes, or the number of the telephone of some person who will notify them should be placed opposite the name on the last. If a fire occurs, the warden can then call his crew in a few minutes. Another list should be made of persons who own automobiles or teams which may be hired to carry men to the fire, and opposite their names the appropriate telephone number. Likewise a list of provisions to feed the number of men you are counting on having as your crew, when it is necessary to keep them

HE National Research Council has received

TH

a gift from the Southern Pine Association of $10,000 to pay for the incidental expenses of a co-ordinated scientific study by a number of investigators of the re-growth of trees on cut-over forest lands with the aim of determining the best forestry methods for obtaining the highest productivity. Although some of these cut-over lands can perhaps be most advantageously used for agricultural purposes there is a large acreage of them which will yield better returns if devoted to re-forestration.

Despite the large amount of forest study that is being conducted under Government and State auspices, there is much need for additional investigation. This is well recognized by lumber men and is especially indicated by the action of the recent meeting of the Southern Forestry Congress at New Orleans in formally endorsing the scientific projects of the National Research Council in regard to forestry. The gift from the

Southern Pine Association is made as a result of this action. The investigation will be conducted under the advice of the Research Council's special committee on forestry and will not duplicate any present Government or other undertakings along similar lines.

desk. In it was placed a book for the registering of the names and addresses of all travelers or visitors who cared to write their names in it. The purpose of this book was two-fold. One was to obtain an idea of the number of visitors, both by days and in total according to seasons. The other, to obtain a knowledge of just who our visitors are and whence they come. From an ex

lands of Pennsylvania.

HIS little story of practical forestry propaganda had its beginning in September, 1918. The intermittent but constantly increasing public use of a certain spring adjacent to the State Highway and within a few rods of the Center-Union county line in the Penn's or Seven Mile Narrows, was its inspiration. The land immediately surrounding this spring was cleared to the extent of about an acre and a half, shortly after our Civil War, and was occupied for about 14 years by one John Voneida, a hermit. It is said he never had a shave and allowed his hair to grow so long that he frequently frightened passers-by because of his wild and unkempt appearance. For this reason he was locally known as 'Hairy John,' and later when the place ceased to be occupied, the spring began to be known as "Hairy John's Spring," and is so referred to, to this day.

66

While this little park had its beginning in the fall of 1918, the greater part of the improvements were made during the summer of 1919. During 1918 the spring was walled in on four sides with concrete and the approaches improved. A number of permanent forest signs were placed nearby, all bearing some statement relating to forest protection. A forestry literature box was erected and numerous bulletins and circulars placed in it. A table, a fire place, and a bench or two were constructed. This equipment was installed rather late in the season but its effect on the mobiling public was almost instantaneous. People began to stop just for a cool drink of the sparkling spring water, while others with increasing frequency, came prepared to eat their dinners or suppers and spend a few hours in the refreshing atmosphere of the forest.

The frequent use by the public of this little recreation center during its very beginning, convinced the writer that more elaborate improvements would be justified. Accordingly, as soon as opportunity offered in the spring of 1919, additional improvements were made, and we have been at it more or less ever since. The first thing installed this year was a register and suggestion

that the largest number recorded in one day was 345, and that the total for the 1919 out-door season to October 15th, was about 10,000 names. Of course, not every visitor registers, and from my knowledge of the proportion who do not, I feel justified in saying there have been from 14,000 to 16,000 visitors at the park during the year. It is needless to say, 14,000 observers and, we hope, favorable commentators on our work, mean something for forestry in Pennsylvania. Imagine 50 State Forests attracting a half million visitors to 50 small but highly attractive mountain parks! When at least one has been opened on practically every forest, the greatest stride and forward step in Pennsylvania Forestry history will be an accomplished fact. Fifty mountain parks, to reach an annual visitation of 500,000, must average 10,000 for each park each season. This is not high, for once these centers are opened, developed, and thoroughly known, the number of visitors will grow, just as they have at Voneida Park. I predict at least 20,000 visitors at this park during 1920. When you consider the relatively small cost of 50 of these mountain recreation centres, and the assured and possible benefits for forestry, you scratch your head and wonder why something in this line was not attempted long ago. The hunter is cared for by the Game Commission, and the fisherman by the Fishery Commission, but who is caring for the growing number of recreationers in a concrete and adequate way? When we will have met fully the needs of this large body of interested citizens, we will have made forestry both practical and permanent.

In the desk with the registry book was placed a suggestion and criticism book. The principal idea here was to obtain the viewpoint of the publie regarding what we had already done, as well as new ideas as to what should be done. While a great deal of foolish matter has been written into this book there has been a serious vein throughout it all. Some of the suggestions have been practical and good and we have already adopted some. The notable feature, however, of all that is written in the book is the practically unanimous expression of public approval. This has heartened us in all that we have done and to