existing lines, in order to secure a telephone system which will be admirably adapted to the purposes of fire protection. There is a wide variance in the cost of construction of these lines. If a main road is to be followed, it is often necessary to set poles upon which to string the wire, thus adding considerably to the expense. On the other hand, if the road passes through forest land, there will be trees to which to attach the wire, and yet less clearing and altogether easier construction than in the case of the mountain station lines. ROADS AND TRAILS The situation in forest fire fighting resembles that in city fire fighting, to the extent that the sooner a fire is attacked, the easier it is to exinguish it and the smaller the consequent loss will be. Every agency which will facilitate prompt detection of a fire, or enable the fire-fighters to reach the fire quickly, is of value in connection with the system of fire protection. Mountain observation stations provide for prompt detection of fires, telephones enable the observers to report them as soon as they are detected; and roads and trails within the forest contribute to make every section accessible. In most forests there are old roads which have been built for previous logging operations. These, if kept cleared of brush and trees, provide access to otherwise inaccessible regions, and greatly aid the rapid mobilization of the fire-fighting force. The ranger force may be employed on this work during periods of wet weather. FIRE LINES As a rule small bodies of forest land are less likely to suffer from disastrous fires than large bodies. They are usually more accessible and they offer less area for the fire to travel over. A fire can be checked in the open, while in the dense unbroken forest, it is difficult to find a point of attack. An opening of any kind provides such a point. Railroads, roads, trails, streams and areas of open field or barren rock within a forest, are of great assistance in combatting a fire. The forest should be divided up into just as small units as is feasible. Where the topography of the country furnishes lines of attack which need only to be cleared to be of great use in protecting the forest from fire, or where small bodies of valuable timber, or forest plantations render it practicable, fire lines may be constructed. A fire line consists of a strip of ground from which all inflammable material — usually including the standing timber is removed to a width of several feet. For the ordinary forest in this State it is seldom practicable to make the line over twenty feet wide. A number of narrow lines is better. than one very wide one. Trails, roads and fire lines will not invariably stop bad forest fires; they cannot be made wide enough to stop crown fires. However, they furnish vantage points from which to set "back fires," and they will check and occasionally stop surface fires and light ground fires. EDUCATION About ninety per cent. of the total number of forest fires which occur every year are due to carelessness or negligence. The only fires which do not start from these sources are those which are purposely set or those which are caused by lightning. Thousands of campers and sportsmen visit the woods every year. Many of these people see the forest only during their few days of annual vacation. They are not woodsmen; they are not conversant with the conditions existing in the forest, especially as regards the danger of fire. Most of them would be perfectly willing to see that their camp fires were built in safe places, and that they were extinguished when there was no more use for them, if they realized the fire danger. Probably the most important of the true preventive measures to adopt in protecting forests from fire, is the education of this class of people to a proper realization of the ease with which fires may be started, and the care necessary to prevent them. In nine out of ten cases of forest fires caused by campers and sportsmen, the carelessness which permits the fire to escape is the result of ignorance. The only way to combat this ignorance is by education. Propaganda should be distributed calling attention to the fire danger and the care necessary to avoid that danger. Many ingenious methods of bringing the fire situation home to the public have been devised.* The insertion of fire warnings in the time table folders. *Mr. E. T. Allen, of Portland, Ore., Forester for the Northwestern Forest Fire Protective Association, has written a most interesting and instructive article on this subject in "American Forestry " for October, 1912. of railroads passing through the forest, and in telephone directories has proved effective in New York State. Pamphlets containing these warnings have been distributed amongst sportsmen and others who go into the woods. "Fire Notices" posted in the woods convey the information in perhaps the most effective manner. These notices caution campers, hunters, fishermen and all other users of the woods about the use of fire; they quote portions of the forest laws of the State in which the forest is situated; and they may bear the name and address of the nearest forest officer, to whom all fires should be reported. Notices should be posted at points where they are most likely to be seen, such as along roads, trails, and streams which are frequented by campers, in railroad stations, in hotels, etc. They should be printed in large type so that they will attract attention and be easily read. RAILROADS The number of forest fires set by railroads under ordinary conditions can be greatly reduced by the application of suitable spark arresting devices to the locomotives. The only way to render locomotives absolutely safe in this regard is to equip them with oil burning apparatus. If proper precautions are taken, however, coal-burning locomotives will cause many less fires. The points of danger are the ash pans and the smoke stacks, or, in railroad parlance, the "front ends." front ends." If the openings in and around the ash pans are protected by screens or other devices, so that live coals cannot fall out of them on the right-of-way; if a spark arrester of fine enough mesh is placed in the front end of the locomotive, and if these devices are maintained at all times in good condition, the danger of fires being started by that locomotive is greatly reduced. The question of locomotive equipment will be discussed further when the matter of the laws applying to railroads is taken up. RESTRICTION OF FIRES TO CLEAR Land or Burn Brush It has been recognized for several years that the indiscriminate setting of fires to clear land or to burn brush, especially in the more densely forested regions, has been the cause of many large and disastrous forest fires. Even the fact that these fires might damage the property of the man who set the fire does not seem to |