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A fire lookout tower, fire tower, or lookout tower is a tower that provides housing and protection for a person known as a "fire lookout", whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit of a mountain or other high vantage point to maximize viewing distance and range, known as view shed .
There once were more than 10,000 fire lookout persons [1] staffing more than 5,000 of fire lookout towers or fire lookout stations in the United States alone. [2] Now there are far fewer of both. Also there are a number of fire lookout trees. The U.S. state of Wisconsin decided to close its last 72 operating fire lookout towers in 2016. [3]
A fire lookout (sometimes also called a fire watcher) 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 .
Washington was once home to hundreds of fire lookouts — great towers that would stand above the trees, offering 360-degree views of the surrounding wilderness. The towers were used by spotters ...
The oldest erected by the Forest Fire Service that is in continuing operation is Culvers Station (then called the Normanook Fire Tower), first used in 1908, along the ridge of Kittatinny Mountain near Culver's Lake and the Culver's Gap. [a] Many of the state's fire towers were built during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps ...
Fairview Peak Lookout is a fire lookout tower located at the summit of Fairview Peak in Gunnison County, Colorado. The lookout lies within the Fossil Ridge Recreation Management Area of the Gunnison National Forest. At an elevation of 13,214 feet (4,028 m), the one-room stone structure with a second-story wooden cupola is the highest elevation ...
Flag Mountain Lookout Tower [Wikidata]. Established in 1990, the National Historic Lookout Register is a program administered by the United States Forest Service, the Forest Fire Lookout Association, the National Woodland Owners Association [Wikidata], the National Forestry Association, [1] state forestry departments and Department of Interior agencies to recognize historic fire lookout towers ...
A trained observer, usually a park ranger, staffed the lookout and kept in contact with the fire dispatcher at the park headquarters on short-wave radio. During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps also provided observers. The National Park Service staffed the Watchman Lookout Station during fire season until 1974 and intermittently since ...