U.S. Forest Service

The U.S. Forest Service appears in the novel as the recipient of an official warning about dangerous grates on the Fire tower. Its brief but consequential presence is established through a document introduced at Chase Andrews’s trial: the sheriff had asked the agency to address the hazard months before Chase’s fatal fall.

Institutional Presence

The evidence gives the U.S. Forest Service a specific, limited role: it was the agency to which the sheriff sent a written request about the tower. The novel does not identify the agency official who received the request or describe any broader organizational structure or activity. Its significance here rests on the safety issue raised with it and the document’s later use in court.

The Fire-Tower Safety Request

During questioning, Tom Milton established that the grates on the tower were sometimes left open and that this was considered dangerous. He produced an official request dated July 18 of the previous year, which the sheriff acknowledged writing himself. The document asked the U.S. Forest Service to close the tower or secure its grates so that no one would be hurt.

Evidence at Chase Andrews’s Trial

Tom drew attention to the timing: the request had been submitted only three months before Chase Andrews fell through an open grate to his death. He then asked the sheriff to read its final warning, which stated that the grates were very dangerous and that failure to act could lead to serious injury or death. The testimony makes the request more than administrative background: it records that the danger was formally identified before the fatal fall. The evidence establishes that the warning was sent, but does not say whether the U.S. Forest Service acted on it.