Media against the Fire, or How to Secure the Forest for the Trees

Abstract

In Francis RoltWheeler’s 1910 novel, The Boy wiTh The US Foresters, a young man named Wilbur joins the US Forest Service, moves into a remote camp in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, and shadows rangers to learn the timber management strategies of the day. Wildfire figures prominently throughout the entirety of the book, construed as a dangerous enemy able to strike at any moment and destroy huge swathes of valuable trees. This everpresent fear of conflagration comes to its apex in the narrative’s dramatic ending, where Wilbur spots a plume of smoke emanating from a stand of trees and rapidly rides his horse to the site of the blaze. After frantically attempting to smother the flames himself—heat blistering his hands and smoke filling his lungs—Wilbur realizes this is not a job for one. He heads back to his cabin and calls for support over the Forest Service’s telephone system. “There’s a fire here that looks big,” he says over the line, “and I nearly got it under, but when the wind rose it got away from me.” “Well, son, I s’pose you’re needin’ help,” his boss responds.