During the early 20th century, forest fires ravaged Maryland, harming people and wildlife and causing uncalculated annual damage. Marketable timber, emerging sprouts, and seedlings were lost, and scorched soil slowed forest recovery. Beginning in 1906, Maryland State Forester F. W. Besley recruited hardy men who were pillars of their communities to serve as forest wardens, teach wise forestry, and mobilize manpower when fires erupted, with most of these wardens serving as volunteers. Besley emphasized simple firefighting tools such as the rake, hoe, shovel, and axe, later supplemented by backfire torches and portable 5-gallon water tanks carried on workers' backs. He also erected a network of fire lookout towers across Maryland, staffed by dedicated men and women, often with support from whole families, to make fast detection of fires possible. Although modern techniques have made these towers antiquated, some still stand as testimony to the role they once played. Besley maintained that political consideration had no place in forest management, a view echoed in the Maryland Department of Forestry and in the words of Garrett County Forest Warden Abraham Lincoln Sines, who said that fighting forest fires was a hard job requiring the best men in both parties.