Abstract
FOREST fires have long been a source of damage and loss in North America, and for many years the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by the aid of the Forest Service and the Weather Bureau, has sought, so far as possible, to mitigate the amount of havoc by fire control. Necessarily immense difficulties harass the work in many ways, but without doubt the unceasing care and activity of those engaged is telling in its results. A prime feature in the discussion is the forecasting of fire-weather with the object of avoiding the fires or competing with them when necessary. The U.S. Monthly Weather Review for the past two years contains many varied articles on the subject, written from different points of view. Only the merest reference can be made to them here in the space available. Occasional articles have appeared for at least ten or twelve years connecting the forest fires with lightning, but it is only in the last two years-1922 and 1923-that the communications have become so frequent and widespread. In 1923 there were at least 12 communications, 7 of which occur in the November number. It is almost invidious to single out those by special authors-all of which are either attached to the Forest Service or the Weather Bureau.
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Meteorological Factors and Forest Fires in the United States. Nature 113, 659 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/113659a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/113659a0