FLAMING FORESTS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 652, 18 March 1914, Page 2

FLAMING FORESTS.

DISASTERS WHICH CANNOT BE AVERTED. Among the "big things" of which America holds a monopoly, there are two she would much rather be without. One is the cyclone, and the other is the forest fire we have read so much of during the last year or or so, the fire that rages for weeks. destroying thousands and thousands of acres of timber, ravaging forest townships, costing millions of money, and defying the restraining efforts of an army of soldiers. The havoc created by one of these fires can be likened to nothing but the effects of an earthquake or volcanic eruption.

It is curious that these forest fires should be so much more disastrous in the North American continent than in any other country, but it is a fact, nevertheless. It is not that the forests are more dense or the wood more inflammable than in other regions, but that there is a certaiD quality 'in the atmosphere that creates terrific air currents as soon as the fire is in full blast.

A new source of danger, for a long time unsuspected, has been discovered by a scientist who has made an engrossing study of these conflagrations. It was remarked that fires seemed to start principally in windy weather. A fire began under such conditions would naturally spread with great rapidity, and this individual found that branches of trees grinding, together in the wind will generate fire. This has unquestionably been the cause of many disasters of this description. For this, of course, there is no remedy, it being one of Nature's own methods of equalisation. It has been suggested that the householders build in open spaces and away from densely wooded tracts, but this would be out of the question for settlers on small homesteads, as a fire well under way will leap lakes and streams, and even moderately wide stretches of open country. The way in which prairie fires are spread is curious and wonderful. All through the hot and arid summer, under the scorching sun, there grows a weed. It throws out thousands of tiny stalks and branchiets growing upon strong woody stems. When the plant matures it resembles a bushel basket ; some are smaller, but a few attain an enormous size. The rootlets that hold this plant in the earth become gradually loosened, and wind strains and twists it. and finally the tap-root breaks • off, leaving this round ball of lattice and lace work to dry up and become as inflammable as tinder. The prairie fires begin,; the breeze springs up and increases to a gale ; these basket weeds, as they are called, ignite and roll over the prairie at an almost, incredible rate of speed, carrying destruction with them. They find lodgement against buildings, fences, stacks and banks of dry leaves, and continue the work that the prairie fire proper is unable to do. Miles of cleared ground and settlement offer no protection when these basket-weeds get into their stride. They annihilate distance and reduce the factor of safety to a minimum, if they do not destroy it altogether. The forest fire does its work in another way by carrying on the wings of the terrific wind large pieces of blazing material, which are scattered broadcast over villages, hamlets and farms, dropping in the most unexpected' places and setting fire to buildings often before the owner is aware of any danger. Against forest fires it seems impossible to guard. As for the prairie fire, the only chance of safety is in back-firing and the destruction of the basket weeds. • Some farmers have had their outlying lands fenced in with wire netting. It is expensive, but it is effective in checking the course of the weeds, and, taken all in all, is perhaps less costly than the destruction of a building or a hay crop, or the disastrous results of a stampede of valuable cattle or horses which often takes place. Really, where the forest fires are concerned there seems to be no means of protection whatever. Nature has the upper hand, and' when the elements combine to wreak havoc and destruction, all the forces at man's disposal are powerless to resist them. —"Weekly Telegraph."