—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 27,1968
12
More Woods Fires Already
Protecting Penn's Woods from
fire, particularly during the
Spring and Fall fire seasons, is
a tune consuming task for the
Depaitmenl of Forests and Wa
ters' Dmsion of Forest Protec
tion.
Already this year there have
been more fires than during the
entire year of 1967.
When the danger of fire is ex
tremely prevalent there are no
"days off" for personnel involv
ed in forest protection. They are
on the alert 24 hours a day until
the danger subsides.
To cope with this state-wide
problem, the Division of Forest
Protection has at its disposal
various modern pieces of equip
ment designed for the suppres
smn of forest fires This includes
aircraft for surveillance and wa
ter drops on going fires
In addition to salaried person
nel, there are about 3,000 volun
teer fire wardens who are train
ed and equipped to assist in fne
fighting Not included are the
lonely ones, both men and worn
en. who operate the network of
fire towers which span the Com
monwealth
It was in 1905 that the first
fire tower, a wooden structure,
was erected in Franklin Countj
by what was then known as the
Department of Forestry This
replaced the old tree tower, one
of which was erected by stu
dents of the State Forest Acad
emy at Mont Alto about 1903
As early as 1884. fire was a
big problem and a Luzerne
Countj man who owned 40,000
acres of woodland maintained a
lookout -station on the roof of a I
building overlooking his proper
ty At the first sign of smoke
the watchman using a mega
phone, would call to a waiting I
fire brigade in a nearby settle-,
ment and the men would spring I
into action
Today there are 130 radio
equipped towers in the state
each manned by trained observ
ers who are on duty from sun
rise to sunset during the two fue
seasons whenever the fire dan
ger demands their obseirations
During those early j eais when
a fire tower was just a platfonn
. Coil your local
HOFFMAN SEED
MAN
FRANK H. BUCHER
2160 Main St., Rothsville, Pa.
626-6504
Litilz
LESTER ERB
312 S. Mount Joy St.
Elizabethtown, Pa 367-7112
JASON H. MELLINGER
R D. 1
Strasburg, Pa,
JONATHAN S. SHIRK
366 E. Main St., Bareville, Pa.
656-9302
EDGAR C. UMBLE
Pequea Ave.
Gap, Pa,
SPECIALIZING
IN ALFALFA,
■I -V CLOVER,
J PASTURE,
■ iTyTrrra OATS, FORAGE
A, H. HOFFMAN SEEDS, INC.
' Landisville (Lancaster Co.), Pa/ -
- - i
attached to the top of a tree, ob
servers had no modern com
munication systems as ' are in
use today.
.When they spotted smoke it
was necessary to ride several
miles on horseback to report the
blaze to the forester. By then,
if fanned by high winds or fed
by dry underbrush, the fire had
a good chance to spread out of
control over thousands of acres.
Years after the first telephone
made its appearance, lines were
built to the towers and tele
phones were Installed to make
the matter of reporting fires a
matter of minutes.
MEET—
687-6546
442-4525
D. E. HORN & Co., Inc. York, Pa. 717-854-7867
CHARLES
E. BAIR
OF WRIGHTSVILLE
(YORK CO, PA)
This outstanding poultryman, student and FFA member is
holding the dozen eggs that won him “best of the show”
honors at the 1968 PA. FARM SHOW for the Vo-Ag Divi
sion. Charles is president of the Eastern High School FFA
Chapter and a member of the National Honor Society. Re
cently he was honored as one of the two outstanding FFA
poultry boys in the state.
CONGRATULATIONS. .. CHARLES
for you’re outstanding record. Keep up the
good work. The Agricultural Industry needs
young men like yourself.
FEED
Unfortunately most of these • Meetings Set
curly day towers provided no (Continued from Page 1)
protection for the observor. They
were open top structures, about individual farmers are expected
50 feet high, equipped with a to attend.
ladder for climbing. , . Meetings and dates tentative-
Although they are not desjgned ly scheduled are as follows:
to provide all the comforts of May 1 - Knoxville, Tennessee:
home, today's modern fire tow- Denver, Colorado: Amarillos,
crs furnish the operator with a Texas; and Fargo, N. Dakota,
roof over his or her head, an M ay 2-Lincoln. Nebraska and
electric heater to take the chill
out of the air. and a two-way er east f Jim Th in Carbon
radio which is used in conjunc- £ 0
tion with the telephone. A far cry from those used dur-
Four new towers, constructed j n g the early 1900 s, the new tow
during 1967. are in use today at ers ' rise to a height of 82.5 feet,
the following locations: There is a seven by seven foot
Stoney Mountain, on State -crow’s nest perched on top, sur-
Game lands northeast of Dau- hounded by a four foot wide cat
phm; Kmton Knob, southwest of walk. The latter was installed
Bedford; the Prospect tower, for the convenience of the ob
east of Smethport in McKean server although it may be used
Co ; and the Mauch Chunk tow- by visitors at their own risk.
PERFORMANCE CONSCIOUS
POULTRYMEN FEED
KORNCO FEED
Check with you’re neighbor
who feeds HORNCO.
Billings, Montana.
May 3 - Harrisburg, Pennsyi.
vania; Hutchinson, Kansas; Fort
Wayne, Indiana: and Spokane,
Washington.
Informal hearings will begin
at 10 a.m. at locations in respec
tive cities to be announced by
Slate ASC Committees responsi.
ble for arrangement.
The meeting scheduled for Har.
risburg, Pennsylvania, will be
held on Friday, May 3rd. at the
Capitol Motel. This meeting w ill
include representatives from the
States of Pennsylvania, New
York and Maryland. The meet
ing is open to the general pub
he and all interested parties are
welcome to attend. Persons at
tending the meeting are invited
to express their views on the
size and direction of the 1969
national wheat allotment.