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Angeles National Forest, Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout Tower near Los Angeles, California.

A Fire Lookout uses an Osborne Fire Finder to obtain the radial and distance to a suspected fire. From these measurements he will call in a "Smoke Report".

A Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Tower or Lookout Tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a "Fire Lookout" whose duty it is to search for fire in the wilderness. The Fire Lookout Tower is a small building usually located on the summit of a mountain, or other high vantage point in order to maximize the optimum viewing distance and range, known as view shed. From this vantage point the Fire Lookout can see any trace of smoke that may develop, and that person can then call fire suppression personnel to the location by using a device known as an Osborne Fire Finder. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A USFS fire lookout on Bald Mountain in Butte County, California. ... Image File history File linksMetadata VetterLookout01. ... Image File history File linksMetadata VetterLookout01. ... The San Gabriel Mountains, part of the Angeles National Forest. ... Los Angeles, L.A., and LA redirect here. ... Image File history File linksMetadata LookoutCharley01. ... Image File history File linksMetadata LookoutCharley01. ... A USFS fire lookout on Bald Mountain in Butte County, California. ... A USFS Fire Lookout using an Osborne Fire Finder while on duty at Vetter Mountain, California. ... A radial is a line drawn along a vector. ... Distance is a numerical description of how far apart things lie. ... A USFS fire lookout on Bald Mountain in Butte County, California. ... A USFS Fire Lookout using an Osborne Fire Finder while on duty at Vetter Mountain, California. ...

The typical Fire Lookout Tower consists of a small room, known as a cab located atop a large steel, or wooden tower, however sometimes natural rock maybe used to create a lower platform. In some cases, the terrain makes it possible so there is no need for an additional tower and these are known as Ground Cabs. Ground Cabs are called towers even if they don't have a tower to sit upon.

Fire Lookout Towers are making a comeback, after a narrow escape with extinction during the 1980’s and 1990’s. Although the demise of historic Fire Lookout Towers continues as a result of neglect, abandonment, and declining budgets, many of the towers are finding new life as enlightened Fire Service personnel are coming to realize that fading budgets for that technology simply cannot compete with a good set of human eyes watching the forest for wildfire. {{alternateuses}} The Old Fire burning in the San Bernardino Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, brush fire, peat fire (gambut in Indonesia), bushfire (in Australasia), or hill fire, is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wildland...

History

USA

Dry Mountain Fire Lookout in the Ochoco National circa 1930. This is a classic example of an Aermotor type tower.

The history of Fire Lookout Towers predates the United States Forest Service (which was founded in 1905). Many townships, private lumber companies, and State Foresty organizations operated Fire Lookout Towers on their own accord. Image File history File links Drymountainlookout1930. ... Image File history File links Drymountainlookout1930. ... The USDA Forest Service, a United States government agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, is under the leadership of the United States Secretary of Agriculture. ...

It was the “Fire of 1910” also known as “The Big Blowup”, a fire that is still argued to be the largest forest fire ever had burned 3 million acres (12000 km²) through the states of Washington, Idaho and Montana. The smoke from this fire drifted to Washington D.C. physically, and politically, and it challenged the 5 year old Forest Service to address new policies regarding fire suppression, and the fire did much to create the fire rules, organizations, and policies that we have today. One of the rules as a result of the 1910 fire stated “all fires must be extinguished by 10 AM the following morning”.

To prevent, and suppress fires, the U.S. Forest Service made another rule that townships, corporations and States would bear the cost contracting fire suppression services because at the time, there was not a large Forest Service Fire Department that exists today.

As a result of the above rules, early fire detection and suppression became a priority. Towers would be built across the country. In 1933, during the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt formed the “Civilian Conservation Corps” consisting of young men and veterans of World War One. It was during this time that the CCC set about building Fire Lookout Towers, and access roads to those towers. By the late 1930’s there were about 8,000 towers in the United States. {{alternateuses}} The Old Fire burning in the San Bernardino Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, brush fire, peat fire (gambut in Indonesia), bushfire (in Australasia), or hill fire, is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wildland... Civilian Conservation Corps workers restoring the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. ...

The golden age of Fire Lookout Towers was from 1930 through 1950. During World War II Fire Lookouts were assigned additional duty as Enemy Aircraft Spotters, especially on the West Coast of the United States.

From the 1960’s through the 1990’s the towers took a back seat to new technology, aircraft, and improvements in radios. The promise of space satellite fire detection and modern cell phones tried to compete with the remaining Fire Lookout Towers but in several environments, the technology fails.

Fires detected from space are already too large to make accurate assessments for control. Cell phone signals in wilderness areas still suffer from lack of signal. Today, some Fire Lookout Towers remain "in service" because having human eyes being able to detect smoke, and call in the fire, allows fire management officials to decide early how the fire is to be managed. Note, that more modern policy is to "manage fire", not simply to suppress it. Fire Lookout Towers provide a reduction in time of fire detection to time of fire management assessment.

Japan

Fire lookout tower and former fire station.

An alarm bell (半鐘, Hanshō^?) on top.

In Japan, fire lookout tower (火の見櫓, Hinomi-yagura^?) build from Edo period, it was equipped with the fire fighting team of town (町火消, Machi-bi-keshi^?) in Edo and other town. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 102 KB) 火の見櫓 撮影日：2006å¹´12月13æ—¥ 撮影地：（神奈川県川崎市宮前区平） 撮影者：cory 付記： かつては各町（または火消を組織したいくつかの町）にひとつ設けられ、番人が常駐し、火事の見張りなどに使われていた。半鐘を備える。 Hinomi-yagura (en:Fire lookout tower) Date: 2006-12-13 (Dec 13, 2006) Place: Taira Miyamae Kawasaki Kanagawa Japan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 102 KB) 火の見櫓 撮影日：2006å¹´12月13æ—¥ 撮影地：（神奈川県川崎市宮前区平） 撮影者：cory 付記： かつては各町（または火消を組織したいくつかの町）にひとつ設けられ、番人が常駐し、火事の見張りなどに使われていた。半鐘を備える。 Hinomi-yagura (en:Fire lookout tower) Date: 2006-12-13 (Dec 13, 2006) Place: Taira Miyamae Kawasaki Kanagawa Japan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (800x1200, 168 KB) 火の見櫓と半鐘 撮影日：2006å¹´12月13æ—¥ 撮影地：（神奈川県川崎市宮前区平） 撮影者：cory 付記： かつては各町（または火消を組織したいくつかの町）にひとつ設けられ、番人が常駐し、火事の見張りなどに使われていた。 Hinomi-yagura (en:Fire lookout tower) and Hansyo (Alarm bell) Date: 2006-12-13 (Dec 13, 2006) Place: Taira Miyamae Kawasaki Kanagawa Japan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (800x1200, 168 KB) 火の見櫓と半鐘 撮影日：2006å¹´12月13æ—¥ 撮影地：（神奈川県川崎市宮前区平） 撮影者：cory 付記： かつては各町（または火消を組織したいくつかの町）にひとつ設けられ、番人が常駐し、火事の見張りなどに使われていた。 Hinomi-yagura (en:Fire lookout tower) and Hansyo (Alarm bell) Date: 2006-12-13 (Dec 13, 2006) Place: Taira Miyamae Kawasaki Kanagawa Japan. ... The following text needs to be harmonized with text in the article History of Japan#Edo Period. ... Edo (Japanese: 江戸, literally: bay-door, estuary, pronounced //), once also spelled Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo. ...

In usually, a fire lookout tower build in side of former fire station (番屋, Ban-ya^?), it has a lookout ladder and alarm bell (半鐘, Hanshō^?) on top. A fire station is a building or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus i. ...

It has following functions.

1. Watchmans keep watch all over the town.
2. If find fire, the watchman ring a bell...
   1. to call up firemans.
   2. to warn for residents.
3. Somewhere using a time signal of town.

Fire lookout towers was fully equipped in Showa period. The Shōwa period (Japanese: 昭和時代, Shōwa-jidai, period of enlightened peace) was the time in Japanese history when Emperor Hirohito reigned over the country, from December 25, 1926 to January 7, 1989. ...

Later, it replaced to telephone and radio broadcasting system in many city, but it is used in some town to send alerts now.

External links

• Fire fighters from Edo to Meiji period in Japan. (Shōbō bōsai hakubutsukan) (Images and documents in Japanese)
  • picture of a former fire lookout tower drawing by Hiroshige.

Memorial portrait of Hiroshige by Kunisada. ...

Today - The Modern Fire Lookout Tower

Today hundreds of towers are still in service with paid-staff and/or volunteer citizens. In some areas, the Fire lookout operator often receives hundreds of forest visitors during a weekend and provides a needed “pre-fire suppression” message, supported by handouts from the "Smokey Bear", or "Woodsy Owl" education campaigns. This educational information is often distributed to young hikers that make their way up to the Fire Lookout Tower. In this aspect, the towers are remote way stations and interpretive centers. The Fire Lookout Tower also acts as a sentinel in the forest attracting lost or injured hikers, that make their way to the tower knowing they can get help. A USFS fire lookout on Bald Mountain in Butte County, California. ... Only YOU can prevent forest fires! Smokey Bear is a mascot of the United States Forest Service created in 1944 to educate the public on the dangers of forest fires. ... Woodsy Owl is a mascot for the United States Forest Service created in 1970. ...

In some locations around the country, Fire Lookout Towers can be rented by public visitors that obtain a permit. These locations provide a unique experience for the camper, and in some rental locations, the check out time is enforced when the Fire lookout operator returns for duty, and takes over the cab for the day shift.

Fire Lookout Towers are an important part of American History and several organizations have been founded to save, rebuild, restore, and operate Fire Lookout Towers.

Lookout Tower Organizations

• Forest Fire Lookout Association
• Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association
• Rebuild South Mount Hawkins Lookout
• San Bernardino National Forest Association

Lookout tower Trivia

• Tallest lookout tower in the world: Warren Bicentennial Tree Lookout, Australia - 225.7 feet (69 m).
• Tallest all-steel lookout tower in the world: Beard Tower, 5 km (3 miles) SE of Manjimup, West Australia - 200 feet (61 m).
• Tallest lookout tower in the U.S.: Woodworth Tower, Alexandria, Louisiana - 175 feet (53 m).
• Highest lookout site in the world: Fairview Peak, 25 mile (40 km) NE of Gunnison, Colorado - 13,214 feet (4,028 m).
• Lowest lookout sites in the world: Pine Island L.O., Florida & Evans Pines L.O., Florida - 2 feet (61 cm).
• Earliest known fire lookout in the world: Mount Masada, west of the Dead Sea, in present-day Israel, approx. 2,000 years ago. It was built by King Herod's army in Palestine to protect against his enemies who were burning his empire.
• State with the most known lookout sites: Idaho (989). 196 of them still exist, with roughly 60 staffed each summer.
• Only state that has never had a lookout: Kansas.

Source: The Lookout Network newsletter & Fire Lookouts Of The Northwest. Alexandria is a city in Louisiana and is the parish seat of Rapides Parish. ... Gunnison is a city located in Gunnison County, Colorado. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Dead Sea (Hebrew: ); (Arabic: ‎) is both the second lowest point on the Earth at 418 metres (1,371 ft) below sea level and falling[2], and the deepest hypersaline lake in the world at 330 m (1,083 ft) deep. ... Herod I, also known as Herod the Great was an ancient king of Judaea. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Types of Fire Lookout Towers

Wooden Towers

Many Fire Lookout Towers are simply cabs that have been fitted to large railroad water tank towers. These huge wooden towers could extend 30 to 60 feet. One of the last wooden fire lookout towers in Southern California was the South Mount Hawkins Fire Lookout located in the Angeles National Forest. A civilian effort is underway to rebuild the tower after its tragic loss during the Curve Fire of September 2002.

The typical cab of a wooden tower can be from 10'x10' to 14'x14'.

• Example - South Mount Hawkins before the fire

Steel Towers

Example of a steel tower on Bald Mountain in Butte County, California.

Steel towers can vary in size and height. These towers are very sturdy but tend to sway in the wind a bit more than a wooden tower. This picture is of a fire lookout tower on Bald Mountain in Northern Butte County, California, just shy of 6000 feet elevation. ... This picture is of a fire lookout tower on Bald Mountain in Northern Butte County, California, just shy of 6000 feet elevation. ...

The typical cab of a steel tower can be from 10'x10' to 14'x14'.

• Example - Keller Peak Lookout
• Example - Red Mountain Lookout
• Example - Mount Lofty Fire Tower, South Australia

Mount Lofty Fire Tower Mount Lofty Fire Tower sits on top of Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills just to the east of the city of Adelaide. ...

Aermotors

Aermotors Fire Lookout Towers have very small cabs because the towers are based upon the old Aermotor Windmill Towers. These cabs are often found in the Midwest or the South but few have made their way into the mountainous West. There are also a number of these towers in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

The typical cab of an Aermoter can be from 4'x4' (with a trap door on the bottom) to 8'x8'.

• Example - Lakota Peak Lookout
• Example - Summit Ridge Lookout
• Example - Adirondack Towers

Ground Cabs

Ground cabs are still known as "towers" even though there maybe no such tower under the cab. These towers can be one, two or three stories tall with foundations made of natural stone or cement. These towers vary greatly in size, but many are simple wooden or steel tower cabs that were constructed using the same plans, sans the tower.

• Example - Tahquitz Peak Lookout
• Example - Winchester Mountain Lookout
• Example - Mt. Tam Lookout in California

The historical Winchester Lookout, located in the North Cascades in the U.S. state of Washington, provides views of the Northern Picket Range, Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan and Canadian peaks. ...

Other types

There are many different types of lookouts. In the early days, the Fire lookout operator would simply climb a denuded tree and would sit upon a 2'x2' platform chair atop that tree. An old fishing boat was once dragged to the top of a high hill and it was used as a Fire Lookout Tower. Very little is known about the horse mounted Fire lookout, but they too would ride the ridges patrolling the forest for smoke. A USFS fire lookout on Bald Mountain in Butte County, California. ... A USFS fire lookout on Bald Mountain in Butte County, California. ...

Countries that still use fire lookout towers

• USA
• Canada
• Mexico
• Uruguay
• Brazil
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Indonesia
• France
• Italy
• Portugal
• Spain
• Germany
• Latvia
• Israel
• South Africa
• Japan

External links

• Conrads' North Idaho Forest Fire Lookouts
• Ontario's Fire Tower Lookouts History
• Forest Fire Lookout Association
• Portugal's Fire Tower Lookouts-click on the dots
• Mount Utsayantha Fire Tower- A 360 degree view of the inside of the Fire Tower