Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 185, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1911 — THE CARE OF THE CAMP FIRE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE CARE OF THE CAMP FIRE

By WILLIAM T. COX

. I tHO is 'not stirred at the mention of a camp fire in the forest! Civilisation has not taken from ua the appreciation of the camp fire’s glow near bivouac or tent, but it has too often. removed us from the opportunity of enjoying this pleasure. To the increasingly la rge number of people

who do find It possible to spend the summer and fall In the woods and mountains a note of friendly warning . at this time may not be amiss. This is the season when each year thousands of inexperienced and oftentimes careless people enter the forest to camp and fish and wander, to let tfceir minds and bodies grow. How many of these people realize what a menace they are to that same forest which they admire, and to the old trees which they reverence? Even old, experienced woodsmen are not always careful with wteir camp fires. Hunters who have been ■in the woods for 20 years often leave smoldering embers when they break camp. This, of course, is pure recklessness, for these people know better. They appreciate what consequences may follow if the wind should fan the smoldering coals. Usually, however, men who have lived in the woods all their lives or who frequent the forest regions during a portion of she year are very careful where they build camp fires and how they leave them. The question of camp fires, like the forest fires which may result from them, must be handled differently in different parts of the country and in different kinds of forest The difference in the danger element is very apparent between a fire started in the sandy soil beneath a pine forest and the deep duff beneath the spruce. During even the dry season it is perfectly easy to clear away inflammable material and scoop out a hole In the sand where a camp fire may be built with comparative safety. In the spruce forest it is different; great care must be taken in the selection of the site for a fire, since it will be apt to creep back beneath the surface and to gain headway after all trace of it is supposed to have been extinguished. When one digs a fire hole in a forest, such as spruce or flr, it is necessary to dig deep and find material that will not smolder, or, better yet, select a site along some stream or lake shore where 'there is gravel or rocks. Do not build large fires. They serve no useful purpose. As an old Indian ■aid: "Indian’ he build leetle fire, stay up close, keep wa-a-a-rm. White man he build great fire, stand way back, roast one side, freeze other.” It is too often true that campers, particularly those who are but slightly woodswlse, pile on the wood to their own discomfort and sometimes to their imminent danger and that of the surrounding forest. Of course camp fires should never be built against trees or stumps where they are likely to smolder. It is well to give thought to the fire some little time, before breaking camp. Do not build up a hot fire only an hour or so before leaving the locality/ This will save trouble in extinguishing the last vestige o fthe coals and perhaps save an extra bucket of water carried from an Inconvenient spot. The question of camp fires leads literally to the question of forest fires. Nearly every one who has been in the woods during the dry season, whether it be in Maine or in British Columbia, has had the opportunity to prevent the spread of some incipient forest fire. Sometimes they are called upon to take part in controlling a fire well under headway. This kind of work is necessary. It may mean carrying water to pour upon smoldering fires in dry peat in a spruce or tamarack swamp; it may mean raking back the leaves from a creeping surface fire in an oak thicket; it may mean digging's trench tbrodfeh the leaf mold and duff In a forest of fir; very often it means beating out with boughs the flames advancing through grass and needles beneath the pine; occasionally it means the fighting of fierce crown fires when a gale is blowing. In {he latter case, of course, fighting from the side and narrowing in the front of the fire is one way of making progress. Another Is to retreat to some favorable ridge, water course, or other natural point of vantage, dig trenches, and back fire a strip across which the advancing fire cannot travel. Practically every state has laws making it a misdemeanor to leave camp fires unextinguished. In Colorado the penalty is $25 to SIOO, or 15 to 60 days’ imprisonment In Maine the penalty is SSO. In Montana "Persons starting camp fires without taking sufficient steps to prevent spreading of them, or failing to extinguish them before leaving, are guilty of misdemeanor and liable to a fine of $2,000 or one year’s imprisonment."

In New York, camp fires are allowed on ;the state forest preserve, but space around must be cleared and fires extinguished before leaving. For violation to do this there is a fine of SI,OOO or imprisonment for one year, or both. ‘ In Oregon, “building camp fires without clearing the ground around or leaving them without extinguishing, subjects a person to a penalty of $25 to SSOO, or imprisonment for one day for every $2. In Pennsylvania, camp fires on state reserves must be made in a hole or pit one foot deep and circled by the earth removed. Violation of these regulations, or leaving flrest unextinguished, is punishable- by a fine of >IOO to SSOO. On private lands, starting fires which injure other property, is punishable by a penalty of SIOO or imprisonment for one day for every dollar of fine. In Idaho, kindling camp fires'in or near forests and leaving them unextinguished,..penalty $lO to SIOO. In Minnesota, a person kindling a fire and leaving it unextinguished is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of $25 to SIOO, or 10 to S* days in jail. In Vermont, persons building fires in the woods must extinguish them before leaving; penalty SSO or 30 days’ imprisonment or both. In Maryland, persons starting fires or allowing them to escape are liable for damages and costs of fighting the fire; also a penalty of S2O to SI,OOO or 30 days to one year in jail. In Wisconsin, persons starting fires and leaving them unextinguished are liable to a penalty of SIOO or one month’s Imprisonment, or both. In Wyoming, persons starting fires and leaving them unextinguished are. liable to a penalty of $lO to SIOO, or 10 to 30 days’ imprisonment, or both. In Nova Scotia persons must dear the land for a distance of 10 feet in every direction from a camp fire started in the woods. The place selected must contain the least possible amount of debris and the fires must be extinguished before leaving. The United States law requires that fires built on the public lands must be extinguished before leaving them; penalty not to exceed SI,OOO or one year’s Imprisonment, or both. Pines go to the school fund of the county where offense was committed. / Campers in the forest can be of immense value as a protection against fires, or they can be a destructive element, depending upon the character of the person and his attitude, and the degree of care exercised. In the National Forests the government is anxoius to have as many settlers as the limited amount of agricultural land In the mountains will support. Every careful settler means additional protection against fire. Campers should , constitute a force of fire wardens scattered through the forest wherever they happen to be. Instead of having to be warned and watched and sometimes apprehended by state federal forest officers, sportsmen and others camping in the forest should each do all in his power to hold in check the common enemy, fire. This is gradually coming to be the attitude of every one, but it is coming rather slowly. The lumberman, of course, realizes what destruction can be wrought to his property by the careless camper. The railroads are beginning to realize what they have lost and are continuing to lose through the burning of lumber and lumber that they should have hauled. They know, too, of the hurry calls torrescue trains when whole villages and settlements have to flee before the advancing flames. Let every camper be a forest ranger, taking care of his own fires, warning others or the danger, and fighting such fires as he may encounter, whether left by some one else, set by the paaeing locomotive, or pechance by lightning. The following extracts from the Ontario fire laws are well worth quoting, being virtually a manual In brief for handling inflammables iu the forest: "Every person, who, between the first day of April and the first day of

November, makes or starts a fire within a fire district for the purpose of clearing land, shall exercise and-ob-serve every reasonable care and precaution In the making and starting of such fire, and in the managing of and caring for the same after it had been made and started, in order to prevent the/fire spreading and burning up the timber and forests surrounding the place where it has been so made and started. “Every person who, between the first day of April and the first day of November, makes or starts within such a district a fire in the forest, or at a distance of less than half a mije therefrom, or upon any island for cooking, obtaining warmth, or for any industrial purpose, shall—(1) Select a,locality in the neighborhood in which there is the smallest quantity of vegetable matter, dead wood, branches, brushwood, dry leaves, or resinous trees. (2) Clear the place in which he is about to light the fire by removing all vegetable matter, dead trees, branches, brushwood and dry leaves from the soil within a radius of ten feet from the fire. .. 0/-

(3) Exercise and observe every reasonable care and precaution to prevent such fire from spreading, and carefully extinquish the same before quitting the place. “Any persons who throws or drops any burning match, ashes of a pipe, lighted cigar, or any other burning substance, or who discharges any firearm Within such fire district, shall be subject to the pains and penalties imposed by this act, if he neglects completely to extinguish before leaving the spot the fire of such match, ashes of a pipe, cigar, wadding of the firearm, or other burning substance. “Every person in charge of any drive of timber, survey or exploring party, or of any other party, requiring camp fires, for cooking or other purposes, within a fire district, shall provide himself with a copy of this act and shall call his men together and cause the act to be read in their bearing, and explain to them at least once in each week during the continuance of such work of service.”