That night the officers and enlisted men secured living accommodations
in the town. After the truck train arrived, the enlisted personnel
would all be quartered in tents on the aviation field. In the meantime
they must occupy temporary billets in the hotels.
The next morning the Squadron personnel were out at the aviation field
quite early, for there was much work to be done. The only available
buildings on the field were a large frame structure which was to be
used as a storehouse, and a small one which was to be used as
headquarters. The officers were installing the furnishings required to
change the frame shack into an office. The mechanics were working on
the planes, performing the necessary maintenance and servicing
required after a flight.
Batten, the Engineering Officer, was making arrangements to insure the
planes being in serviceable condition the next day. Maxwell, the
Operating Officer, was busily engaged in plastering maps of Oregon all
over the walls of his office. Liggett, the Radio Officer, was checking
radio sets on the planes and supervising the erection of a radio hut
some distance away from the landing field proper.
Bill was inspecting the planes of his Flight when he heard someone
say, “Hello, old-timer, who would have expected to see you here?”
Bill turned and saw Earl Simmons, the corpulent forest supervisor from
the Cascade National Forest.
“I never expected, when you drafted me as a fire-fighter, that I would
make it a profession, either,” replied Bill, as he shook hands with
Simmons. “How did they pry you away from your bailiwick in the woods?”
“We are going to have a conflab here to determine how you people can
help us save what’s left of the timber,” replied Simmons. “Cecil is or
will be here, and Elliot, the State Forester, will represent the
state. I am glad that you came up and hope that you can stop this run
of fires that we are having.”
Just then an orderly came up and said: “Captain Smith presents his
compliments and requests that you report to him in his office.”
“I guess that this is the conflab,” said Bill. “You had better come
along.”
Upon arriving at the office, Bill saw that Smith, Kiel, Maxwell, Cecil
and another man, probably Elliot, were already assembled. After
introductions and greetings all around, the group settled down to
business.
“Gentlemen,” said Cecil, “the fire situation in this state is more
serious than it ever has been before. Every day new fires are breaking
out, and the old ones are getting larger. The smoke pall is so dense
that the lookouts cannot see through it. Accordingly new fires get
very large before they are reported and we send out a crew to fight
them. Smith, what can you do to help us out?”
“I am not very well acquainted with the fire situation, how you handle
the problem, or the organization which you have to work with,” replied
Smith. “I suggest that you outline to me on the map your present
working organization. Then I will have something to guide me when I
make a proposal. If I suggested anything now, it would be like
shooting in the dark.”
Cecil and Elliot then outlined on the map on the wall the limits of
the National Forests, and marked the location of the forest
supervisors’, rangers’ and wardens’ headquarters and the lookout
stations.
“The lookout stations, as you can see, are located on the highest
points in the vicinity,” said Cecil. “All such stations are connected
to the nearest headquarters by telephone. A fire is located from two
or more stations. They make intersections on the smoke and read the
azimuth. This is reported to headquarters and a fire-fighting crew is
immediately collected to go out and fight the fire. If it is an
exceptionally large one and is hard to get under control, either the
supervisor or warden usually makes a reconnaissance of the fire to
determine the best means of fighting it. That must be done on
horseback or foot and takes, in some cases, several days. At the
present time the lookouts are not of much use on account of the
smoke.”
“As I see it,” said Smith, “we can help you in detection and
suppression of fires, but not much in the prevention.”
“I am not so sure about that,” said Cecil. “As soon as it is known
that the airplanes are patrolling the forests, people will be more
careful not to start the fires. The planes will have a great
psychological value.”
“Perhaps so,” replied Smith. “The first thing that I want is a liaison
officer from your service to stay right here and represent your
department. We cannot talk your language and you can’t talk ours. In a
short time the liaison officer will be able to talk both.”
“That’s all right,” said Cecil. “I think that I will have Simmons stay
to start you out right and later replace him with someone else. Does
that suit you, Earl?”
“Suits me O. K.,” replied Simmons.
“With Simmons here,” said Smith, “we can start a set of maps which
will show the fire situation at a glance. All the fires can be marked
on the map in different colors.”
“I have a suggestion to make in that connection,” said Cecil. “In
order that a standard set of colors be used, we should all have red
pins to designate new fires that are verified; yellow pins for new
fires not verified; green pins for permanent smokes such as logging
camps, sawmills, etc., and black pins for fires that are burned out.
In that way there will be no confusion.”
“So be it,” replied Smith. “So much for the maps and the liaison
officer. Now my next suggestion is that we send out two patrols a day
from here, one going south to Medford and the other north to
Portland.”
“That will be all right,” said Cecil, “provided that these patrols
cover the areas having the greatest fire hazard. Let’s work it out on
the map.”
It took some time to work it out satisfactorily, as Cecil wanted to
get the patrol to cover the greatest possible amount of timbered area
and Smith had to be sure that the routes covered areas where there
were at least an occasional emergency landing field; that the routes
would normally take but two hours to cover; and that they would end
near a sub-base where the planes could be serviced with gas and oil.
The patrols finally agreed upon were:
1. From Medford over the Cascades to Eugene and return over
almost the same route.
2. From Eugene over the coast range to the west of the
Willamette Valley and end at Medford. To return over
approximately the same route in the afternoon.
3. From Eugene over the Cascades in the morning to Portland,
and back over the coast range in the afternoon.
As the period of greatest fire hazard was during the middle of the
day, it was agreed that the patrols should start out at nine o’clock
each morning and land at the sub-base about eleven, and taking off
again about one o’clock, be back home at about three.
“How will you send in the information that you get?” asked Cecil.
“By radio,” replied Smith. “I also have a suggestion on that. I am
bringing up several extra sets. Why can’t you hire some amateurs and
have them run sets in each forest? In that way the Forest Supervisor
would get the fire data as soon as it was sent. We would save a lot of
time if we did.”
“An excellent idea,” said Cecil. “We will do it. When will your sets
be available?”
“As soon as the truck train gets in,” replied Smith. “Probably the day
after tomorrow.”
“What data will be in the message?” asked Cecil.
“We might just as well fix up a code now as any time,” said Smith. “We
will have a standard sequence for all messages. All data to be in code
if possible. KA starting the message would be the attention call. Then
VAI or the call letters of the ground station being called. FFF signal
that a fire was discovered. NF or OF meaning a new or old fire. T
followed by the number of the township. R followed by the range
number. A followed by the estimated size of the fire in acres. W
followed by the estimated strength of the wind in miles an hour, and
abbreviation of direction, as N for north or SE for southeast. PA
followed by the number of the patrol, and finally AR, meaning the end
of the message. How does that suit you? That is my Radio Officers’
idea. Liggett gets the credit for that if it is accepted. A complete
message would be received KA KA KA VAI VAI VAI FFF NF T26 R7 A300 W15
NW PA3 AR AR AR. Then station VAI would know that a new fire in
Township 26, Range 7, burning over 300 acres. The wind was 15 miles an
hour from the northwest and Patrol Number 3 was reporting it.”
“Its all right for us,” said Cecil. “It gives us all the information
that we need.”
“The patrols will send in messages every five minutes regardless of
the number of fires that they discover,” said Smith. “That will enable
us to keep track of their whereabouts. I don’t want any planes landing
in the timber and not knowing approximately where they are.”
“I also suggest that the Liaison Officer should send in a complete
report of all fires discovered by telephone as soon as the plane has
landed,” said Cecil. “I will have additional liaison officers at
Medford and at Portland.”
“That’s all right,” said Smith. “I am going to establish ground radio
stations at both those places in addition to the one here to receive
the messages that come in and check them when the plane lands.”
“When can we get started?” asked Cecil.
“We can make patrols tomorrow,” said Smith. “There will be no radio on
the ground to receive any messages, though. I would suggest that you
send up some of your men in the planes tomorrow to act as observers
and check on the fires now burning.”
“That will be fine,” replied Cecil. “I am not so sure that we have
located all of the fires now burning. That reminds me, how about
special planes occasionally for special patrols to enable my men to
get data as to how best to fight large fires? They could surely make
the tour of a fire by plane in thirty minutes to two hours that now
would take us several days on horseback or on foot.”
“Whenever you want one,” said Smith. “We will always have one plane in
the airdrome waiting for such service.”
“You may not appreciate it, but that is going to be a big help,” said
Cecil. “In order to fight a fire efficiently, we must know the
topography of the country. That enables us to efficiently locate our
fire lines. It is always better to stop a fire on a natural barrier
such as a stream, the crest of a mountain, a road, or an already
burned-over area than in the middle of a forest. The forester in the
plane can also get the wind direction and nature of the wood burning.
It makes a big difference if the fire is in second growth timber,
virgin woods or brush.”
“That is an easy request,” said Smith. “A plane will be ready any
time. Bruce, I am going to send Goldy and two planes from your Flight
down to operate from Medford. You make all the necessary arrangements.
The rest of the Squadron will operate from here. Simmons, you had
better get Goldy and tell him what it’s all about from your viewpoint.
The first patrol will start out at nine tomorrow. Bruce, you take the
south patrol, and Kiel, you take the north one. Goldy will start for
Medford at the same time and patrol the Cascades on the way down.”
“I will have my men here at that time,” said Cecil. “I will send down
a liaison officer with Goldy in one of the planes.”
“Can’t be done,” said Smith. “Two mechanics will have to go down to
work on the planes.”
“I’ll pay the transportation of one of them on the railroad,” said
Cecil. “He can go down on the evening train.”
“That will fix it,” said Smith. “I don’t care how the mechanic gets
there, so long as he is there to service the planes.”
“Well, Simmons,” said Bill as they left the office, “it looks as if
you had bought yourself a job.”
“One thing is certain,” replied Simmons. “I will know a lot more about
airplanes when this Summer is over than I do now.”
“And I will know a lot more about your forests,” replied Bill.