![BeyazıtTower01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Beyaz%C4%B1tTower01.JPG)
A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a "
fire lookout
A fire lookout (partly 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 ...
" whose duty it is to search for
wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
s in the
wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
. 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''. From this vantage point the fire lookout can see smoke that may develop, determine the location by using a device known as an ''
Osborne Fire Finder
The Osborne Fire Finder is a type of alidade used by fire lookouts to find a directional bearing (azimuth) to smoke in order to alert fire crews to a wildland fire.
History and development
The forerunner to the device was invented around 1840 by S ...
'', and call fire suppression personnel to the fire. Lookouts also report weather changes and plot the location of lightning strikes during storms. The location of the strike is monitored for a period of days afterwards, in case of ignition.
A typical fire lookout tower consists of a small room, known as a ''cab,'' atop a large steel or wooden tower. Historically, the tops of tall trees have also been used to mount permanent platforms. Sometimes natural rock may be used to create a lower platform. In cases where the terrain makes a tower unnecessary, the structure is known as a ''ground cab''. Ground cabs are called ''towers'', even if they don't sit on a tower.
Towers gained popularity in the early 1900s, and fires were reported using telephones,
carrier pigeon
The homing pigeon, also called the mail pigeon or messenger pigeon, is a variety of domestic pigeons (''Columba livia domestica'') derived from the wild rock dove, selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distan ...
s and
heliograph
A heliograph () is a semaphore system that signals by flashes of sunlight (generally using Morse code) reflected by a mirror. The flashes are produced by momentarily pivoting the mirror, or by interrupting the beam with a shutter. The heliograp ...
s.
Although many fire lookout towers have fallen into disrepair from neglect, abandonment and declining budgets, some fire service personnel have made efforts to preserve older fire towers, arguing that a person watching the forest for wildfire can be an effective and cheap fire control measure.
History
United States
![Fire lookout tower in south Georgia, USA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Fire_lookout_tower_in_south_Georgia%2C_USA.JPG)
The history of fire lookout towers predates the
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
, founded in 1905. Many townships, private lumber companies, and State Forestry organizations operated fire lookout towers on their own accord.
The
Great Fire of 1910
The Great Fire of 1910 (also commonly referred to as the Big Blowup, the Big Burn, or the Devil's Broom fire) was a wildfire in the Inland Northwest region of the United States that burned in North Idaho and Western Montana, with extensions into ...
, also known as the Big Blowup, burned through the states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. It is still arguably the largest forest fire ever in recorded history. The smoke from this fire drifted across the entire country to Washington D.C. — both physically and politically — and it challenged the five-year-old Forest Service to address new policies regarding fire suppression, and the fire did much to create the modern system of fire rules, organizations, and policies. One of the rules as a result of the 1910 fire stated "all fires must be extinguished by 10 a.m. 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 of contracting fire suppression services, because at the time there was not the large Forest Service Fire Department that exists today.
As a result of the above rules, early
fire detection and suppression became a priority. Towers began to be built across the country. While earlier lookouts used tall trees and high peaks with tents for shelters, by 1911 permanent cabins and cupolas were being constructed on mountaintops.
Beginning in 1910, the New Hampshire Timberlands Owners Association, a fire protection group, was formed and soon after, similar organizations were set up in Maine and Vermont. A leader of these efforts,
W.R. Brown, an officer of the
Brown Company
The Brown Company, known as the Brown Corporation in Canada, was a pulp and papermaking company based in Berlin, New Hampshire, United States. They closed their doors during the 1980s.
History
H. Winslow & Company
In 1852, a group of Portla ...
which owned over 400,000 acres of timberland, set up a series of effective forest-fire lookout towers, possibly the first in the nation, and by 1917 helped establish a forest-fire insurance company.
In 1933, during the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt formed the
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...
(CCC), consisting of young men and veterans of World War I. It was during this time that the CCC set about building fire lookout towers, and access roads to those towers. The U.S. Forest Service took great advantage of the CCC workforce and initiated a massive program of construction projects, including fire lookout towers. In California alone, some 250 lookout towers and cabs were built by CCC workers between 1933 and 1942.
The heyday of fire lookout towers was from 1930 through 1950. During World War II, the
Aircraft Warning Service was established, operating from mid-1941 to mid-1944. Fire lookouts were assigned additional duty as Enemy Aircraft Spotters, especially on the West Coast of the United States.
From the 1960s through the 1990s 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 failed.
Fires detected from space are already too large to make accurate assessments for control. Cell phones 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 report allows fire management officials to decide early how the fire is to be managed. The 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.
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
had the most known lookout sites (966); 196 of them still exist, with roughly 60 staffed each summer. Kansas is the only U.S. state that has never had a lookout.
A number of fire lookout tower stations, including many in New York State near the
Adirondack Forest Preserve
New York's Forest Preserve, comprises almost all the lands owned by the state of New York within the Adirondack and Catskill parks. It is managed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
, the Forest Preserve covers nearly ...
and
Catskill Park
The Catskill Park is in the Catskill Mountains in New York in the United States. It consists of of land inside a Blue Line in four counties: Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster. As of 2005, or 41 percent of the land within, is owned by ...
, have been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
Japan
During the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
housed the .
Usually the fire lookout tower was built near a , and was equipped with a ladder, lookout platform, and an (
ja).
From these towers watchmen could observe the entire town, and in the event of a fire they would ring the alarm bell, calling up firemen and warning town residents. In some towns the bells were also used to mark the time.
While the fire lookout towers remained fully equipped into the
Shōwa period
Shōwa may refer to:
* Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa
* Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufacturer, affiliated with the Honda keiretsu
Japanese eras
* Jōwa (Heian ...
, they were later replaced by telephone and radio broadcasting systems in many cities.
Canada
Like the United States, fire towers were built across Canada to protect the valuable trees for the forestry industry. Most towers were built in the early 1920s to 1950s and were a mix of wood and steel structures. A total of 325 towers dotted the landscape of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
in the 1960s, and today approx. 156 towers span the province, but only a handful of towers remained in use after the 1970s. They are still in use in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
, Ontario and a few of the
Maritime Provinces
The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...
.
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
decommissioned the last of its 32 fire towers in 2015 and had them torn down by a contractor.
Germany
The first fire lookout tower was built to the plans of Forstmeister Walter Seitz between 1890 and 1900, located in the "Muskauer Forst" near Weißwasser. Warnings were transmitted by light signal. For transmission of location, Seitz divided the forest area into so-called "Jagen", numbered areas, with that number to be transmitted to the city. He received a patent for this system in 1902. Seitz traveled to the 1904
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...
for a presentation of his idea in the USA.
Russia
As wood had been a key building material in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
for centuries, urban fires were a constant threat to the towns and cities. To address that issue, in the early 19th century a program was launched to construct
fire station
__NOTOC__
A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...
s equipped with lookout towers called ''kalancha'', overlooking mostly low-rise quarters. Watchmen standing vigil there could signal other stations as well as their own using simple signals. Surviving towers are often local landmarks.
Today
Australia
Fire towers are still in use in Australia, particularly in the mountainous regions of the south-eastern states.
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
's Forest Fire Management operates 72 towers across the state during the fire season with towers being constructed as recently as 2016.
Jimna Fire Tower
Jimna Fire Tower is a heritage-listed former fire lookout tower at Jimna State Forest, Murgon-Kilcoy Road, Jimna, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Arthur Leis and built from to 1977 by Arthur Leis. It is also known ...
in Southeastern
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
is the tallest fire tower in the country, at 47 meters above the ground, and is included on the state heritage register.
United States
Today hundreds of towers are still in service with paid-staff and/or volunteer citizens. In some areas, the
fire lookout
A fire lookout (partly 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 ...
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
Smokey Bear is an American campaign and advertising icon of the U.S. Forest Service. In the Wildfire Prevention Campaign, which is the longest-running public service announcement campaign in United States history, the Ad Council, the United St ...
", or "
Woodsy Owl
Woodsy Owl is a national symbol and advertising character for the United States Forest Service with the aim of motivating children to form healthy, lasting relationships with nature. Harold Bell of Western Publishing (and the producer of the ...
" 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.
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
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...
and several organizations have been founded to save, rebuild, restore, and operate fire lookout towers.
See
List of fire lookout towers in the United States
This is a list of notable fire lookout towers and stations, including complexes of associated buildings and structures. This includes lookout cabins without towers which are perched high and do not require further elevation to serve for their purpo ...
Germany
Starting in 2002, traditional fire watch was replaced by "FireWatch", optical sensors located on old lookout towers or mobile phone masts. Based on a system developed by the
DLR for analyzing gases and particles in space, a terrestrial version for forest fire smoke detection was developed by DLR and
IQ Wireless
An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term ''Intelligenzqu ...
. Currently, about 200 of these sensors are installed around Germany, while similar systems have been deployed in other European countries, Mexico, Kazakhstan and the USA.
Canada
Several Canadian provinces have fire lookout towers.
Dorset, Ontario
Dorset is a small community located on the boundary between the Algonquin Highlands, Ontario, Algonquin Highlands Township in Haliburton County, Ontario and Lake of Bays, Ontario, Lake of Bays Municipality in Muskoka District Municipality, Ontario ...
's Scenic Tower was built on site of former fire lookout tower (1922-1962).
Types
Wooden towers
Many fire lookout towers are simply cabs that have been fitted to large railroad water tank towers that are high. One of the last wooden fire lookout towers in Southern California was the South Mount Hawkins Fire Lookou, in the Angeles National Forest. A civilian effort is underway to rebuild the tower after its loss in the
Curve Fire
In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight.
Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that a ...
of September 2002.
The typical cab of a wooden tower can be from to
* Example — South Mount Hawkins before the fire
* Example
Boucher Hill Lookout Palomar Mountain State Park, San Diego CA
Steel towers
Steel towers can vary in size and height. They are very sturdy, but tend to sway in the wind more than wooden towers.
The typical cab of a steel tower can be from to
* Example — Los Pinos Lookout, Cleveland National Forest, San Diego CA
* Example — Red Mountain Lookout, San Bernardino National Forest, Riverside CA
* Example
High Point Lookout Cleveland National Forest, Palomar Mountain, San Diego CA
* Example —
Mount Lofty Fire Tower
The Mount Lofty Fire Tower sits on top of Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills just to the east of the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The 34m high tower has a commanding view over a huge area of the rural areas surrounding Adelaide, and on a c ...
, South Australia
Aermotors
The
Aermotor Company
The Aermotor Windmill Company, or Aermotor Company, is an American manufacturer of wind-powered water pumps. The widespread use of their distinctive wind pumps on ranches throughout the arid plains and deserts of the United States has made their d ...
, originally of Chicago, Illinois, was the first and lead manufacturer of steel fire towers from the 1910s to the mid-1920s. These towers have very small cabs, as the towers are based on Aermotor windmill towers. These towers are often found in the U.S. Midwest and South, but a few are in the mountainous West. In the northeast, all of the towers in the Adirondack Mountains and most in the Catskills were Aermotor towers erected between 1916 and 1921.
The typical cab of an Aermoter had a cab with a fire locating device mounted in the center. Access was by way of a trap door in the floor.
* Example — Lakota Peak Lookout
* Example — Summit Ridge Lookout
* Example — The Fire Towers of New York
* Example — Adirondack Towers
Ground cabs
Ground cabs are still known as "towers" even though there may be no such tower under the cab. These towers can be one, two or three stories tall with foundations made of natural stone or concrete. 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
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, Mount Larrabee, and Canadian peaks. The steep snowfields usually require a ...
* Example — Mt. Tamalpais Lookout in California
Lookout trees
The simplest kind consist of a ladder to a suitable height. Such trees could have platforms on the ground next to them for maps and a fire finder. A more elaborate version, such as the
Gloucester tree
The Gloucester Tree is a giant karri tree in the Gloucester National Park of Western Australia.
At 58 metres in height, it is the world's second tallest fire-lookout tree (second only to the nearby Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree), and visitors ...
in Australia, added a permanent platform to the tree by building a wooden or, later, metal structure at the top of the tree, with metal spikes hammered into the trunk to form a spiral ladder. These 'platform trees' were often equipped with telephones, fire finder tables, seats and
guy-wire
A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a free-standing structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and tents. A thi ...
s.
Other types
There are many different types of lookouts. In the early days, the
fire lookout
A fire lookout (partly 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 ...
operator simply climbed a denuded tree and sat on a platform chair atop that tree. An old fishing boat was once dragged to the top of a high hill and used as a fire lookout tower. Very little is known about the horse-mounted fire lookout, but they, too, rode the ridges patrolling the forest for smoke.
Records
* Tallest lookout tower in the world:
Warren Bicentennial Tree Lookout
The Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree, a tall karri tree, was pegged for climbing to celebrate Australia's bicentenary in 1988. It is in Warren National Park in southwestern Australia. Although it has been used as a fire lookout, it is used mainly ...
, Western Australia — .
* Tallest all-steel lookout tower in the world:
Beard Tower, SE of
Manjimup, Western Australia
Manjimup is a town in Western Australia, south of the state capital, Perth. The town of Manjimup is a regional centre for the largest shire in the South West region of Western Australia. At the 2016 census, Manjimup had a population of 4,349.
...
— .
* Tallest lookout tower in the U.S.:
Woodworth Tower Places
*United States
** Woodworth, Illinois
**Woodworth, Louisiana
** Woodworth, North Carolina
** Woodworth, North Dakota
**Woodworth, Ohio
*Canada
**Rural Municipality of Woodworth, Manitoba
People
* Charles E. Woodworth (1897-1966), Entomol ...
,
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is the ninth-largest city in the state of Louisiana and is the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the prin ...
— .
* Highest lookout site in the world: Fairview Peak, NE of
Gunnison, Colorado
Gunnison is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gunnison County, Colorado. The city population was 6,560 at the 2020 United States Census. Gunnison was named in honor of John W. Gunnison, a Uni ...
— .
* Lowest lookout sites in the world:
Pine Island L.O.,
Florida & Evans Pines L.O.,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
— .
Countries continuing to use fire lookout towers
![Monjeau Lookout - Photo by USDA Forest Service](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Monjeau_Lookout_-_Photo_by_USDA_Forest_Service.jpg)
* Australia
* Belgium
* Brazil
* Canada (Alberta, B.C., Manitoba, Nova Scotia,
[
] Ontario, Saskatchewan)
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Indonesia
* Israel
* Italy
* Latvia
* Mexico
* New Zealand
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* South Africa
* Spain
* Turkey
* United States
* Uruguay
See also
*
List of fire lookout towers
This is a list of notable fire lookout towers and stations, including complexes of associated buildings and structures. This includes lookout cabins without towers which are perched high and do not require further elevation to serve for their purpo ...
*
Lookout tree
A lookout tree is a simple fire lookout tower created by attaching a ladder or a series of spikes to a tall straight tree with a view of the surrounding lands, allowing rangers or fire crews to conveniently climb the tree to survey their surroundin ...
*
Watchtower
A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...
*
Drill tower
A drill tower is a tower and training facility for firefighters. It is usually built within a fire station facility for routine exercises and training.
Structure
A drill tower is a multi-level structure simulating high-rise buildings. Heights var ...
, used in firefighting practice
*
Hose tower
A hose tower is a structure constructed for hanging firehoses to dry. Hose towers have been features of some fire station designs in Canada, Germany, and the United States. The purpose of such towers was to hang and dry canvas hoses, slowing the ...
, used in some fire stations to dry firehoses
*
Fire control tower
A fire control tower is a structure located near the coastline, used to detect and locate enemy vessels offshore, direct fire upon them from coastal batteries, or adjust the aim of guns by spotting shell splashes. Fire control towers came into g ...
, used to control gun fire from coastal batteries
*
List of New Jersey Forest Fire Service fire towers
In order to aid its efforts in wildland fire suppression and fire protection, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service operates a system of 21 fire towers at locations throughout the state of New Jersey in the United States.New Jersey Forest Fire Service ...
* ''
Firewatch
''Firewatch'' is an adventure game developed by Campo Santo and published by the developer in partnership with Panic. The game was released in February 2016 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, and PlayStation 4, for Xbox One in September 2016 ...
'', a game centered around a fire lookout tower in
Shoshone National Forest
Shoshone National Forest ( ) is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest is managed by the United States ...
References
*
*
* The Lookout Network newsletter
External links
Fire LookoutsUS Forest Service History Pages,
Forest History Society
The Forest History Society is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of forest and conservation history."Forest History Society." Echo Project. Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. http://echo.gmu. ...
Forest Fire Lookout Association Fire Lookout Towers in AustraliaEyes of the Forest: Idaho's Fire LookoutsDocumentary produced by
Idaho Public Television
Idaho Public Television (also known as IdahoPTV and Idaho Public TV) is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member network serving the U.S. state of Idaho. Consisting of five television stations, it is operated and funded by the Idaho State Boa ...
"A Day in the Life of a Fire Lookout" in Marin County, California
{{Firefighting
Wildfire suppression
Towers