Narrator: Elaborate road and trail systems have been constructed in the national forests,
well equipped motor-trucks, packed trains, and airplanes are pressed into use, transporting
supplies and firefighters. Specially designed tools, equipment, and power implements have
been developed and are contributing their part to the difficult task of suppressing
fires in the national forests. Great progress has been made in developing organization of
crews for faster production of fireline and for other special tasks that must be done
to control fires.
Narrator: When these rangers began to fight fires they discovered through sad experience
that there were certain rules of the game that must be followed and that when they were
violated fires usually got away. Many other pioneers likewise learned about these Common
Errors. The old timers past some of their knowledge on to the next crop of forest officers
but systematic training had not yet been highly developed. And too often the lessons were
not deeply enough impressed and so the second generation of rangers continued to make many
of these same Common Errors until stern experience taught them better. Training technique has
advanced rapidly in recent years but has not kept pace with progress and transportation,
organization, and equipment for firefighting. With the much more intensive attack on fires
now practiced, many more forest officers are pressed into service as fireline overhead
and so we still find the same old Common Errors cropping up to plague the Fire Boss. The same
errors but made by different men, why? Inadequate training. the purpose of this picture is help
train the young forest officers, other firefighters and future foresters to avoid some of the
more common and serious errors in firefighting.
Narrator: Men have only so much energy to expend, climbing long distances up steep,
rough hills to work, exacts an awful toll of this precious store of energy. The exact
loss in fireline production due to this cause is not known but it is tremendous. These men
must climb miles to the fireline to go to work and then down again at the end of each
shift. Usually when camps are located too far from the job it is due to the lack of
real thinking on the part of the fire boss. To a failure to appreciate the loss in his
crew's ability to work on the fire due to fatigue. There are only three essential considerations
in camp location: to get men within easy striking distance of the fire, to get the men in a
place where they will be safe, to get the men where they can get water, food, and sleep.
The fire boss of this crew knows that it is much better to camp on the fireline so he
has the crew take their beds with them and arranges to have food and water transported
to the line camp. Sometimes it is necessary to camp inside the burn for safety. The fire
boss must see that his crew is protected from danger of the fire itself, from falling trees,
rolling rocks, and logs. In the mountain country, pack mules are still a dependable standby
for placing camp in rough terrain. Occasionally the only safe location is in a place which
cannot be reached by pack stock, in such cases, airplanes must be employed. However, this
is nearly always cheaper and better in the long run because the crew can devote a much
greater share of its energy to the fire instead of wasting it hiking it up and down to camp.
There is a natural tendency on the part of most men to do a workman-like job of grading,
rather than to speed around the fire with an adequate but not overelaborate trench.
These men are not only grading four times as much as needed but also are using a common
but inefficient method of organization. Much time is lost due to loping and lack of supervision.
Under this method, time urgently needed to complete the control line to prevent a serious
run or blowup is wasted. This crew is using the modern method of fireline organization
everyman is working, loping is reduced to the absolute minimum, no one interrupts another's
work in passing. The fireline is being constructed, burned out, and held at a rate much faster
than in the case of the old organization. Just as important, however, is the fact that
the line is not being constructed too wide. In areas where snags are numerous, one of
the most serious Common Errors lies in the failure to fall the snags quickly enough to
prevent their setting spot fires ahead of the line. In this case, all of the crew's
energy is being devoted to trenching while the wind is carrying sparks across the line
to nullify its value. The fire boss must decide whether the snag falling job can wait, whether
it must be done along with the trenching or even ahead of it. Pinecones and small chunks
may cause the fire to get away by rolling down steep slopes. Trenches shaped like this
should be constructed. In very dangerous places it is good business to construct fairly elaborate
to catch the roll. A very serious and common error lies in failure to detect and remove
burning material such as this from places where it may cause a crown fire or re-burn
to start. It is so simple to remove a chunk like this from under a tree yet failure to
do so has been responsible for a number of very large and costly fires. Much time and
energy are wasted in constructing continuous trenches along dead fire edges. The more skillful
fire boss will handle the situation like this. Remember, to be safe, cold-trailing must be
done with the hands not with the eye. This man is making as much safe fireline as a whole
crew building a continuous trench. Only the hot and dangerous edges are worked. Sometimes
additional men work with the cold-trailer shoveling in the hot spots. The use of line
building equipment machinery is too frequently overlooked. The Bozworth trencher will build
on the average of 30 chains per hour. Here comes the line locator. The importance of
line location for any method of line cannot be over-emphasized. In this type, a 25-man
clearing crew composed of ax and Pulaski men and also several saw gangs, is needed to keep
ahead of the machine and it should be followed by two or three men finishing the line. A
torchman and an appropriate number of workers to hold and mop up. Fireline is never safe
as long as there is unburned fuel left to carry fire up to the line. The fireline has
been built and burned out to the fire edge but there is still some unburned fuel left
too close to the fireline. In the early morning, the line looks safe, the fire is merely creeping
in the duff, there's still plenty of time to get the island burned out safely. The humidity
is up and there's no wind, what are they waiting for? Now it's too late! The humidity has gone
down to 12 and the wind has started to blow. It was an expensive mistake not to burn out
that little patch of fuel! Pumpers give valuable assistance in fighting fire when properly
used. Don't put them in dangerous situations. Preparations for backfiring from the line
are being made but the nozzle man should be wetting down the fuel on the outside of the
line NOT on the inside. The backfire can't start because the fuel is too wet. This method
is excellent for watering lawns but a waste of water in mopping up a fire. The nozzle
man can't do the mopping up alone; the heated fuel has to be exposed to the full force of
the water. The man with a hose needs help to get the water down to the burning fuel.
If any fuel is left hot, fire can always break out again and nullify all the work that's
been done. A nozzle man cannot do a good job and stay clean and dry.
Narrator: These men are eating breakfast at three o'clock in the morning. They tool up
without delay and are out on the line by four. Such organization usually means success in
fire control but many men who plan all night fail to get themselves or their crews up in
time. They can break down a good organization. 4 o'clock in the morning, time to get started!
The best part of the day has been lost they should have started to work on the line four
hours ago. Loafing in the fire camp begets loafing on the line. Fire is usually easy
to work and control in the early morning hours. Why are they loafing? It is always a serious
error and poor business to underrate a fire. Never give a fire a chance to build up momentum.
They waited too long!