man back to each donkey-setting between
supper and bedtime to look for possible fires that were not seen
when the crew left. Many keep a watchman on the rounds all night.

Railroad rights of way can usually be kept cleaned and burned at
a cost far less than that of otherwise frequent shutdowns of the
entire camp to fight fire or rebuild bridges, to say nothing of
loss of timber.

PATROL

The best way to prevent fire is to prevent it. Putting out fires
already started is better than letting them burn, but as the real
foundation of a protective system it is about like lowering a lifeboat
after the ship has struck. Only by patrol can the incipient spark
or camp fire be extinguished before it becomes a forest fire that
has to be fought, taking hours or days instead of minutes. One
patrolman can stop 100 incipient fires easier than 100 men can
stop one big fire. Fires in the forest may never be wholly averted,
but patrol will prevent them from becoming "forest fires."

This is why the progressive lumberman no longer waits till forced
to layoff his crew to fight, spending in a day or two a patrolman's
salary for a season, shutting down his road and mill for lack of
logs, and perhaps in spite of all losing several thousand dollars'
worth of timber and equipment. It is also why the progressive
non-operating owner no longer considers fire loss the act of God,
to be reckoned as an investment risk of several per cent. The man
who does not patrol his timber nowadays is like a millman who hires
no watchman, has no hose or sprinkler equipment, and carries no
insurance. He _may_ escape loss, but by not making a reasonable
effort to insure against it he takes a course practically unknown
with other forms of property.

Modern fire patrol is systematic. Trained and organized men have
definite duties. Tools, assistance and supplies are available at
known points and without delay. Trails and look out stations, often
supplemented by telephone lines, give the greatest efficiency with
the least number of men. Above all, the system is based on the
fact that results are most truly measured not by the number of
fires extinguished but by the absence of fire at all. Settlers,
campers and lumbermen are visited, cautioned and converted. In
short, the patrolman has a certain area in which to improve public
sentiment. His success in this is worth more than efficiency in
fighting fires due to lack of such success. A system devoted to
mere fire