Show Parachutes Jeeps Halftracks Half tracks Flamethrowers Will Be Used in Peacetime to Battle Baffle Forest Fires Methods Devised for War Are Being Adapted tc to Save Timber Resources The swords of war become the plowshares of peace and this time Mars has some weapons that are going to come in mighty handy in the never ending battle against forest fires Some very logical questions qu are arc being asked to to- today today day Why not use fire extin bombs to drop on forest fires Why not use bombers equipped with pre pre- precision precision sights to aim these bombs Why not use fire fire- firefighting fighting parachute troops to drop behind enemy lines or orto orto to transport to fire regions difficult dif dif- difficult to negotiate te by land The man who is expected e to take charge of this program is David Godwin a veteran of the forest servo service ice who has been active in fire anti experimental experiment a work for a number of years Godwin already has investigated the possibility of dive bombing for tor- forest est fires using bombs which In real real- ity were exploding fire extinguish extinguish- ers That however was a number of years ago and didn't meet with much success It was difficult the experimenters found to hit the exact spot where the extinguishers bomb would do the most good and there was difficulty in covering a suf sufficiently large area Aviation enthusiasts however are counting upon effective sight bomb and other precision instruments to I change this situation As an alter alternative I Inathe native nathe they Ulcy believe there may be I great possibilities in the use of hell heli I copters No doubt a fleet of bomb bombing ing planes panes could be used to advantage tage in ln blasting a fire out of n a forest especially with ground support from froma a paratrooper battalion The use of dropped parachute troops to fight forest tires fires was first tried a few years ago and they have been seeing action in this capacity ever since But there never has been enough of them to combat a really big fire This number can be expanded greatly after the war and the wartime training of paratroop combat units can bring about the organization of a formidable Ore Ore- lighting fighting force Jeep Will wm Be e Fire Engine When It comes to war post tech techniques I In forest fighting t n ht how how- however ever It may be not only the use of waves wa of at planes and para para- parachute parachute chute troops to the present forces Corces The ubiquitous jeep ac ac accustomed to the jungle junge trails of New Guinea and the difficult terrain of Africa and Italy Hay Is is already roe roe- by professional foresters as highly suitable for service as a miniature fire engine Likewise the talkie walkie radio unquestionably will be used by the thousands to keep in contact between fire chiefs their the l' l crewmen aviation l via spotters spoilers pi pilots pi- pi pilots lots and paratroopers overhead tracks Half which combine au au- automobile automobile speeds with tank and trac trac- tractor tractor tor ability to negotiate swamps and rugged land can serve efficiently as big brother to the jeeps and for use as bulldozers to scrape fire trail bar bar- barriers barriers to the progress of flames Bull Bulldozers dozers already are essential fire fire- firefighting firefighting fighting equipment Even throwers flamethrowers developed by bythe bythe the chemical warfare service may maybe maybe be called upon for building back A v i k f. f 1 J 1 l t t A fl t J y 1 fJ v I f J 1 i i i j I 1 F 1 As soon as a forest for t ranger spots a fire luc be radios for the flying fire firefighters fir fighters Hero a n smoke Jumper Is making a feather bed landing In Inthe Inthe the tops lops of or a young coniferous growth fires burning out areas in the path of at spreading flames Accompany Accompanying ing them would be men with fire ex extinguishers to guard against the back fires getting get ling out of control The paratrooper however will doubtless have a glory and a duty all his own Ills His greatest service will come from the fact that he can get there first Once nce a watcher from froma a lower fire or from a patrolling plane spots smoke It need b only a afew afew few minutes until a paratrooper can land and within 50 or yards of the blaze baze and by getting there while the file Is just starling he will be able in many cases to extinguish It without with out additional help Paratroopers by Hundred But when long periods of dryness have rendered the forests highly in inflammable flammable and fires spread quickly a radio summons from the spotters can bring reinforcements in a n hurt hur ry A single big plane may bring bringa a score or more paratroopers a doz dozen en n planes could bring them by the hundreds With their faces protected by plas plastic tic masks heads covered with pad padded ded helmets and bodies covered with ripping non fabrics to spare them injuries in case of tree top landings and with colls colis of tope rope handy for quick descent from the trees the can reach n a aIre Ire many precious minutes sooner than men on trucks or horseback cnn can generally arrive Portable ort bc fire fighting devices that fire strapped to 0 a mans man's back already alread standard forest fOIest equipment suitable for the paratroopers Some Sometimes times these arc pumps hand with a asma small sma tank of water An alternative tive device uses USI'S water but builds the pressure behind it with carbon c-arbon dioxide either cither In its liquid form or orin orIn in the form of dry ice Some portable extinguishers use carbon di dioxide di- di dioxide oxide itself to play upon the fires It snuffs them out by driving away the oxygen Extinguishers of great grEnt greater grEnter er capacity and other supplies will willbe be attached to parachutes and dropped from other planes Meantime the jeeps and half halftracks tracks trucks and bulldozers will wm bo be moving tip with other reinforce reinforcements ments and supplies They rhey may bring the flame throwers throw rs to build back if necessary They'll bring long lines of hose and pressure high pumps powered by motors which are arc twins to those used on rowboats With the high pressure equipment they'll be able to combat fires In snags dead trees which are ale an especial menace because they tend to carry ground fires upward to the tops of other trees Ground When a forest fire goes goCs into the tree tops it is about as difficult to check as any fire can enn possibly be In an old forest a crown fire may maybe mn be as high above ground as the story of a skyscraper sk sc raper with no au au- automatic automatic sprinkler system to help After landing tile the smoke juniper his parachute and goes gots to work with his portable fire extinguisher He III carries other tool such as axes and spades The heavier bellI equipment can be dropped by bJ para parachute chute when hen necessary I combat It and plenty of oxygen to tomake tomake make it burn freely treely Thus If the original origin a fire does docs get out of control of the first paratroop paratroopers ers to reach it and proves too big bigfor bigfor for the first reinforcements also it itIs Is ts almost certain that the third wave I of paratroopers and ground forces force will resort to building backfires and digging trenches as the maximum I effort elfort to check it It Bulldozers and andI I plow equipped tracks halt will mech mechanize anize a large part of the digging job I Men with throwers lame and extin extinguishers will handle the backfires Other men with powered gasoline saws chain will clear the path of 01 the bulldozers and tracks halt ot of trees too big for them to bowl over America has a big stake in forest lands Forest operators are seeing to it that our trees continue to grow but they know that fire Is the biggest I menace to growth They need weapons ons with which to fight fires and they expect those that this Will war provides pro vides videa will help to keep a. a better con control over this persistent enemy |