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Aviation History
1928
1928 - 0865.PDF
SEPTEMBER 20, 1928 Canadians had perceived that aircraft offered a new and vastly improved method of patrolling the forest to observe outbreaks of fire, and no time was lost in making use of it. An Air Board was formed and in 1919 it was authorised to institute a central civil flying service to supply flying to any other service which req uired it. This was the novel and unique idea round which practically all flying in Canada has grown up The Forest Fire Patrols Canada is the Empire's great timber storehouse, and has the second largest forest area in the world, namely, 1,226,720 square miles, of which 441,960 square miles carries useful timber. Only the United States possesses a larger forest area, while Russia comes third. In 1927 the net value of the forest products of Canada amounted to $475,000,000. The forests rank first among the natural resources of the country, and provide Canada's second greatest industry. The lumber, pulp and paper industries give employment to over 65,000 hands. In the short, but in some parts fierce, summer in Canada forest fires are numerous, and they have often been most destructive. Often a fire has burnt for several days and destroyed acres of valuable timber before it has even been discovered. Previous to the coming of aircraft, the system of guarding against forest fires was primitive, yet probably the only possible one. It must be remembered that to the north of the strip of country served by the railways, the normal means of transport and travel was by canoe in summer and by dog team in winter. Where commanding heights could be found, permanent watch posts were built, connected by telephone to the local head- would enable him to detect the smoke. The aeroplane at once gave him eyes. Not only was the smoke detected easily from a great distance, but the aeroplane could speedily reconnoitre the extent of the outbreak and bring in the news, detailed news, with a speed previously inconceivable. The use of aircraft for forest patrols was firstdeveloped in northern Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, and thence spread westward to Saskatchewan and later to Alberta. At the time when aircraft were first tested in Alberta not a single lookout station had been established. Methods of communication and transport had only just reached the stage where use could be made of lookout reports. A heavy capital expenditure on elaborating this system was imminent. But aircraft were tried, and the plans for a lookout system were abandoned, to the great benefit of the public purse. It may be interesting to recount the history of one fire at the time when aircraft had only recently found their way into Alberta. The air station was at High River, on the eastern side of the Rockies. It was equipped with D.H.4 landplanes with Eagle VIII engines. On the morning of August 28, 1921, one of the D.H.4's out on patrol spotted a large fire on the western slope of the range, in British Columbia. It had been burning for several days, and the amount of timber destroyed was already serious. But the worst that could happen would be for the fire to cross the summit of the Rockies range and descend on the eastern side into Alberta, where it would probably invade the very valuable Crowsnest Forest Reserve. This catastrophe at least it was hoped to avert. Some of the passes were timbered, and these seemed to constitute the greatest danger. Crews Part of Waterfront, Montreal quarters. The patrols went out in canoes, a ranger and assistant patrolling over water ways which were sometimes from 200 to 300 miles long. In forests it is never possible to see far in any direction from a canoe, especially if the banks of the river are high. Sometimes the patrol would pass quite close to a fire, and, unless the smoke happened to be blown directly on to them, would never know of its existence. Incidentally it was by no means a cheap matter to equip a canoe party properiy for a trip which would last for weeks. As for preventing fires which originate in the carelessness of camping parties, the ranger could never be expected to protect adequately the enormous territory under his charge. He has been described as, at the very best, only a moral agent for law and order amongst the north land travellers. When it came to actual control of fires which had been detected, the system in vogue must have been almost maddening. Starting from the canoe, the ranger had to follow the smoke until he had actually located the fire, and then had to form some idea of its extent. The next step was to get to some telephone and send information and a request for fire-fighters with equip- ment. It can very seldom have been a speedy business to get the fighters actually to the spot, and even when they had arrived they must often have been ignorant of what the lire was actually doing, and unable to perceive the best steps for combating it. To the forest officials in the great forest which forms the northern part of the Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) the aeroplane came as a positive godsend. No longer did the patrol grope blindly on the ground or along the river, hoping that good luck of men were hastily recruited from mills and mining works, and stationed in the best positions to prevent the fire from crossing into Alberta. Day by day the D.H.4's reconnoitred the fire and brought invaluable information of its progress to the Forest Supervisor. On August 30 a ranger was flown over the whole area, and it seemed to him that the fire had turned in another direction and would not cross the range. That ver\- evening, however, a strong west wind blew up and carried embers across four miles of bare mountain peaks. They started innumerable fires on the Alberta side. For twelve days after its discovery this fire raged, and throughout the whole period the aeroplanes reported its doings and tendencies. Without this information the supervisor must have been well-nigh helpless. Finally, a heavy fall of rain and snow on September 8 checked the flames, and then the foresters were able to regain control. But without the help they had received from the air the damage done must have been far greater than it actually was. Then the organisation was in its infancy. Now it is much more elaborate and effective. In those days, the High River station, some 40 miles south of Calgary, in Alberta, was the only one to use landplanes. In all others, seaplanes were the normal aircraft in use, and flying-boats in particular. Great parts of Ontario are studded with lakes. Manitoba appears to have almost more lake area than land area : while the northern parts of Saskatchewan are also generously watered. Where the forests stretch across hills with no possible landing ground for many miles, a single- engined Jandplane could only operate at great risk. But with lakes everywhere, varying in size from the vast Lake Winnipeg down to useful mountain tarns, a flying-boat could 801
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