Show IN WEST RAISES FOREST FIRE HAZARD A season ot of the lightest snowfall most meat of the gnoun mountain in deca derf deto over areas ot of the west has haa brought firo fire situation it in on a hazardous most of tho the national forests in the western ro regions gions according to roy headley Head loy chief ot operations of tho U S r forest service the light snow enow blanket la Is rapidly disappearing leaving the forest utter like tinder tiro the early grit grass ss has baa already dried briod on some bome ot of the ranges bad grass fires fire s have already been reported on a number of to forests rests it has been necessary in some places to establish tire fire guards a imonti ea earlier than usual to the defense against forest fires tho the forest service has haa already ready adopted intensive measures and has haa organized its forces for protective work tha hundreds of civilian conservation corps companies in camp on the national forests this year will greatly add to the defense de tenae last year the foriest forest servia loo aided par favorable wea weather t he r conditions and the availability of CCO crews creag was able to bring fire losses in the Natto national i forests down to less lesa than half the five year annual record CCO and NIRA works will many of thorn them bring previous doua lous experience to the work this year and improvement in fire fighting organizations will make their services more valuable the many thousands of miles of reads roads truck trails horse and foot trails telephone toM phone lines built in ih the national forests last year by emergency agencies will also make it possible to speed up the attack on fires improving the chances of oti catching them before they have gained much headway I 1 superior organization with large forces of men and bettor better supplies however cannot alone prevent dis lister whon when tho the forests get dry following a season of deficient rain and snowfall the forest service la is calling upon tho the public in countless communities to lend every cooper atlon and to be careful with tire fire whether la in the forest on the road or in caal tho the annual forest fire bill in the united states sometimes exceeds 60 million dollars although usually the loss in national forests Is hold to a relatively small figure state and private forests also suffer the tillamook burn mostly on private land tn in oregon last year destroyed as a much timber as the entire commercial lumber cut in the united states in some years regional forester frank C wa W i pooler adds that the general con set forth by assistant for cater ter headley are in the main ap 1 to arizona and new dexl 1 co fire guards have been on duty |