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48 Fire-Fighters Manning Guard
Posts In Winema National Forest
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FIRE-FIGHTERS STUDY AMID TIMBER A building used at a barn
many years ago provide classrooms for fire-fighters of the Winema
National Forest during the three-day fire school held annually in June
at the Sevenmile Guard Station. This year 48 trainees took the instrue-
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tion which began Tuesday and ended Thursday. Trainees receive instruc
tion in a variety of subjects before being assigned to some of the Wine
ma's 10 guard stations or snven fire lookouts.
CREWMEN LEARN TO USE PUMPS Fire suppression crewmen of the Chiloquin
Ranger District, seated, learn from Bob Asher, left, standing, fire control officer of
the Klamath District, and his assistant Joe Wagner, the use of centrifugal and other
types of pumps used to extinguish fires. Some pumps are constructed to send a misty
spray alonq a level plane; others are designed to shoot solid streams of water into
the uppermost branches of tall trees.
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VERDANT CLASSROOM A group of fire - fightinq trainees practice setting up a
water pump along the tree lined banks of Sevenmile Creek. Fire fighters of the Chilo
quin, Chemult and Klamath districts took the instruction and tested their skills in com
petition with one another later in the week.
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TRAINEES LEARN HOW Clarence "Moose" Jennings, third from left, lectures to a
qroup of tire. fighters from the Klamath Ranger District on some vital points of control
ling small fires in the forest. Jennings later used the torch at his feet to start a "snag"
fire which he etinguished to demonstrate the use of the shovel and established fire
suppression techniques.
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WHIRLING DISCS CLOCK WINDS A propellor of
four metal discs rotating at the top of the pole sets off
an electircal buiz each time it completes a revolution,
transmitting the signal to a control box where a fireman
counts each sound durinq a two-minute period. The total
number of blips fired durinq the brief period is equal to
the speed of the wind, which spins the prop. The wind
measurinq device, called an anemometer, is useful in
assistinq rangers to establish the extent of the fire danger
daily during summer.
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"STICKS" INDICATE FIRE HAZARD Dan Abraham,
fire control officer of the Winema Forest, removes a set
of specially treated pine dowels from a metal bracket
to weigh them on a scale nearby. The sticks absorb mois
ture in the air, if any is present, increasing their weight.
The less the sticks weigh, the drier are the condition!
in the forest and greater is the hazard of fire.
Forty cinlit fire-fighters of tlw
Winema National Forest are man
ning fire guard stations and look
out towers throughout tile forest
today after receiving instruction!
in an annual three-day fire school
which has figured immeasurably
in reducing the spread of fires in
the Winema during the past two
years..
In 1MI, 100 man-caused and
lightning-caused fires razed 401
acres of forest land in the Wine
ma, for an insignificant aver-
age of .4 acres burned per fire.
Last year the average was even.
less.
Fifty eight fires which broke1
out in the forest during 1W12
burned not more than a total od
10 acres, or an overage of .16 of i
an acre damaged per fire.
The negligible amount of forest
lands razed bv fire in the past
two years is the result of swift
action and teamwork among look
out guards, lire . suppression
crews, smoke chasers and their
supervisors.
The teamwork among those on
fire duty and the ability of each
member to do his job well is
developed largely through the
fire achool. which this year
opened with a briefing at 7:30
p.m., Monday, in Chiloquin and
resumed Tuesday with the first of
three days of classes held at the
Sevenmile Guard Station, near
Fort Klamath.
Tile trainees, approximately
one-third of whom received the
instruction in past years, took
ourscs in map reading, fire be
havior, use of tools in fire sup
pression work, extinguishing small
fires, use of water and water
pumps, radio use and care, maps
and smoke chasing, and fire or
ganization and crew action.
Speed and adeptness in han
dling fire-fighting tools and equip
ment is vital if employes of the
Winema are to seek out and ex
tinguish smaller (ires before they
become large ones and threaten
destruction to vegetation and tim
ber in some of the forest's 913.444
acres.
Included in the training:
Most of the forestry aides set
up and operated a water pump
and compressor which was fed
from Sevenmile Creek and
learned to trace a fire by taking
a bearing on its smoke and then
seeking it out.
In addition, trainees learned
that forest fires react differently
under varied conditions of humid
ity and w ind velocity and then in
another course, observed instruc
tors splash dirt on a fire to
smotlier it when water was not
available.
Other forestry workers who art-
serving in lookout towers this
summer visited the lookout sta
tion at nearby Fort Klamath and
plotted imaginary fires on the
tower's "fire finder."
A new wrinkle has been added
to the Sevenmile Guard Station's
weather measuring devices, which
aid foresters in determining
whether the current fire danger
is tow, medium, high or extreme.
Tlie new device is an ancmome-l
tor. a' weather vane type object
which spills in the wind at the
top of a tall post located at
the mam entrance of the guard
station. The anemometer meas
ures t h c velocity of the wind
as it relates on its axis.
bach time it completes one
spin an electrical buzz is sounded
in a box at the base of the pole.
The total number of buzzes sound-
D-d during a two-minute period is
equivalent to tlie wind velocity,
or the mile per hour rate of the
wind.
After determining the wind vel
ocity, foresters weigh a specially
treated set of "pine sticks," situ
ated outdoors near tlie station, to
establish the amount of moisture
present in dead brush and debris
in the area.
The sticks weigh loo grams
when "oven" dry, indicating that
the fire hazard in the forest is
"extreme." Increased moisture in
the air adds to their weight and
indicates a corresponding de
crease in the combustible na
ture of kindling at the time of the
test.
Foresters take the information
they receive from the "pine
ticks and the anemometer andl
reler to a chart which sets the!
jdegrec of the fire hazard.
For instance, although high
moisture noted in the forest
would indicate a low ire dancer.
that danger would be increased if
strong winds were present at tlie
time.
As the training ended, fire sup
pression crew members and fire
tower lookouts were assigned to
the Winema's 10 guard stations
and seven lookouts, where they
will be alert to the presence of
fire during the remainder of summer.
Instructors of the fire school
were Dan Abraham, Doug Shaw,
John Grove. Ed Harshman,
Vern Fridley, Joe Carter, Clar
ence Jennings, Lloyd Olson,
James Warren, Homer FaulkOer,
Robert Asher, Joe Wagner, Jesse
Barr and Horace Ijindrith.
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KLAMATH FALLS. ORKGON, SUNDAY, JUNE M. 19(3
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LOOKOUTS PLOT IMAGINARY FIRE Dwyght Moore, right, forester of the Klamath
Ranger District, observes John Vest, Swan Lake lookout, and Elenore Wiggins, Deer
Butto lookout, as they plot a mock fira on the "fir finder" in the Fort Klamath Look
out Tower. After detecting a fire, a lookout quard moves to the "fire finder" where
he plots its location and then relays the information to fire suppression crews nearest
the fire. Crews are then dispatched immediately to control the blaie.
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EARLY CHOW FOR FIRE-FIGHTERS Backlighted in
early morninq sunlight, students of the fira school mean
der around the campground at the Sevenmile Guard Sta
tion while awaiting "chow" call for breakfast, served
cafeteria style beginning at 4:30 at the station. Last
year, students received their meals in a Fort Klamath
restaurant.
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SMOKE BETRAYS BLAZE IN ROTTEN STUMP Clar
ence "Moose" Jennings rakes away a pile of slash with
his shovel before moving in to suppress a snag fira in
the vicinity of Sevenmile Creek. Jennings started the
blaze to demonstrate the methods of putting out a fir
without the us of water. First, the forest ranger serapei
the combustible material away from th fir and than
smothers it with dirt he hurls with th shovl. Observ
ing th demonstration ar mploys of th Klamath
Ranger Distdiet.