Fire lookout

USFS Fire Lookout on duty at Vetter Mountain, California.

Reporting smoke is a Fire Lookout's primary duty in the wilderness.

A U.S. Forest Service fire lookout on Bald Mountain in Butte County, California.

SPRR fire lookout station built in 1909 on Red Mountain above Cisco, CA. (abandoned 1934)

A fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.

Once a possible fire is spotted, "Smoke Reports", or "Lookout Shots" are relayed to the local Emergency Communications Center (ECC), often by radio or phone. A fire lookout can use a device known as an Osborne Fire Finder to obtain the radial in degrees off the tower, and the estimated distance from the tower to the fire.

Part of the lookout's duties include taking weather readings and reporting the findings to the Emergency Communications Center throughout the day. Often several lookouts will overlap in coverage areas and each will “cross” the same smoke, allowing the ECC to use triangulation from the radials to achieve an accurate location of the fire.

Once ground crews and fire suppression aircraft are active in fire suppression, the Lookout personnel continue to search for new smoke plumes which may indicate spotting and alterations that pose risks to ground crews.

Working in a fire lookout tower in the middle of a wilderness area takes a hardy type of person, one who can work with no supervision, and is able to survive without any other human interaction. Some towers are accessible by automobile, but others are so remote a lookout must hike in, or be lifted in by helicopter. In many locations, even modern fire lookout towers do not have electricity or running water.

Most fire lookout jobs are seasonal through the fire season. Fire Lookouts can be paid-staff or volunteer-staff. Some volunteer organizations around the United States have started to rebuild, restore and operate aging fire lookout towers.

Countries that use fire lookouts

Notable fire lookouts

• Hallie Morse Daggett - the first female fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service
• Helen Dowe - Devil's Head Lookout at Pike National Forest (1918)
• Ramona Merwin and family - Vetter Mountain, raised her family in the lookout
• Howard "Razz" Gardner and Keith V. Johnson "The Lookout Air Raid" a little-known Japanese aircraft attack of Oregon, USA during World War II
• Roy Sullivan, worked as a fire lookout in his early career as a U.S. National Park Ranger, but was best known for having set a world record for surviving seven lightning strikes during his life.

Famous fire lookouts

Famous people who have worked as fire lookouts include:

• Jack Kerouac, whose books The Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels and Lonesome Traveler include accounts of his job as a fire lookout on Desolation Peak in the North Cascades during the summer of 1956.
• Edward Abbey, who was a fire lookout at Mt. Harkness (1966; Lassen National Park), Atacosa (1968; Coronado National Forest), North Rim (1969–1971; Grand Canyon National Park), Numa Ridge (1975; Glacier National Park), and Aztec Peak (1977–1979; Tonto National Forest).
• Doug Peacock, who was a fire lookout at Huckleberry and Scalplock in Glacier National Park from 1976 to 1984.
• Gary Snyder, who was a fire lookout at Crater Peak and Sourdough Mountain in the North Cascades.
• Philip Whalen, who was a fire lookout on Sourdough Mountain and Sauk Mountain in the North Cascades.
• Norman Maclean, who chronicled his experience in USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky
• Philip Connors, writer

Additional information

• Fire lookout registry
• California fire lookouts
• Lookout Charley, a online photo weblog of a USFS Volunteer Fire Lookout at Vetter Mountain, California

References

1. ↑ Nova Scotia Wildfire Detection, Nova Scotia Government, Department of Natural Resources, retrieved 2009-02-24 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fire lookout towers.

• Fire Lookouts (US Forest Service History Pages, Forest History Society)
• Ontario's Fire Tower Lookouts: Preserving their history
• Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association (Los Angeles, CA)
• Forest Fire Lookout Association
• Portugal Fire Tower Lookouts- click on the dots to see photos of each tower
• Lookout Vistas
• Fire Tower Lookouts in Australia
• The Fire Towers of New York
• "A Day in the Life of a Fire Lookout" in Marin County, California

Part of a series on Wildland Firefighting
Main articles
Firestorm · Peat fire · Wildfire · Wildfire suppression
Tactics & Equipment
Aerial firefighting · Brush Truck · Controlled burn · Driptorch · Fire apparatus · Firebreak · Fire fighting foam · Fire hose · Fire lookout tower · Fire retardant · Fire-retardant gel · Fire trail · Helicopter bucket · Hose Pack · Pulaski · Wildland fire engine · Wildland fire tender
Personnel
Engine crew · Handcrew · Helitack · Hotshots · Lookout · Smokejumper · Rappeller
By country
Australia
Lists
List of wildfires Glossary of wildfire terms This box: view talk edit

v t e Forestry Outline Index Journals Forest areas Types Agroforestry dehesa Analog forestry Bamboo forestry Close to nature forestry Community forestry Ecoforestry Energy forestry Mycoforestry Permaforestry Plantation forestry Social forestry Sustainable forestry Urban forestry World forestry Ecology and management Afforestation Arboriculture Controlled burn Dendrology Ecological thinning Even-aged management Fire ecology Forest certification ATFS CFS FSC PEFC SFI SmartWood Woodland Carbon Code Forest informatics IPM inventory pathology protection restoration Growth and yield modelling Horticulture GM trees Old-growth forest Reforestation urban Silviculture Sustainable management Tree allometry Tree measurement crown girth height volume Environmental topics Acid rain Carbon sequestration Clearcutting Deforestation Ecological services Forest dieback Forest fragmentation High grading Illegal logging Invasive species REDD Shifting cultivation chitemene slash-and-burn slash-and-char svedjebruk Timber recycling Wildfire Wilding Industries Forest coppicing farming gardening logging Manufacturing lumber plywood pulp and paper sawmilling Products biochar biomass charcoal non-timber palm oil rayon rubber tanbark Rail transport Tree farms Christmas Wood engineered fuel mahogany teak Woodworking Occupations Forester Arborist Bucker Choker setter Ecologist Feller Firefighter handcrew hotshot lookout smokejumper River driver Truck driver Log scaler Lumberjack urban Ranger Resin tapper Rubber tapper Shingle weaver Timber cruiser Tree planter Wood process engineer Laws and organizations FAO FIC Unasylva Forest governance Forest Principles Montreal Process UN Forum Forest law enforcement forest types IFM ITTO IUFRO Ministries Museums Research institutes Societies Technical schools Universities and colleges historic Events and initiatives Arbor Day Big Tree Plant (UK) Billion Tree Campaign Forest Hero Award Forestknowledge.net GFIS Great Green Wall (Africa) International Day of Forests International Year of Forests Million Tree Initiative Three-North Shelter Forest Program (China) World Forestry Congress Forestry portal Category by continent by country lists Commons WikiProject