OCR Text |
Show ! SIGNAL SERVICE FOR FOREST FIRES. (Morning Examiner) The forest service of the United States is now contemplating the advisability advis-ability of establishing a signal service by which notice of forest fires, which frequently occur in the western section of the country, may be given at the inception of the flies so that Immediate Immedi-ate aid may be sent to. extinguish them. A bulletin from headquarters gives the following advice regarding the plan; i Working along the line of securing the greatest results in protection against fire, with a minimum of expenditure, ex-penditure, tho forest service has decided de-cided to establish on the most advantageous advan-tageous points on the national forests In the west a series of lookout stations from which news of the breaking out of forest fires can be telephoned to forest officials. Since all these stations will command com-mand a view of the country for miles around, the work of detecting and extinguishing ex-tinguishing fires in their inclpiency Mil, by this plan, be greatly expedited, with the result that many thousands of dollars' worth of valuable timber will be saved annually. In most of the national forest states the climate Is very dry and the rainfall rain-fall light. Conditions, therefore, are remarkably favorable for the spread of fire, and extraordinary diligence is necessary in patrolling dangerous areas. To administer the vast area included In the national forests, approximately ap-proximately 193,000.000 acres, the government gov-ernment has about 1,400 men in the field. If each man could be used for fire patrol ho would have to coer approximately ap-proximately 138,000 acres. As a matter mat-ter of fact, however, the volume of business on the national forests has grown to such proportions that less than 25 per cent of the force is available. avail-able. This makes It necessary to spread an average man's service over nearly four, times 13S.000 acres, decreasing de-creasing the fire protection far below the point of safety in many cases. In the face of this, however, fire losses on the national forests are kept at a point where they are trivial when compared with the damage which would be caused were the lands included includ-ed in the national forests unprotected. |