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Afire lookout (sometimes also called afire watcher) is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as afire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally onmountain tops with highelevation and a good view of the surroundingterrain, to spotsmoke caused by awildfire.
Once a possible fire is spotted, "Smoke Reports", or "Lookout Shots" are relayed to the localEmergency Communications Center (ECC), often by radio or phone. A fire lookout can use a device known as anOsborne Fire Finder to obtain theradial in degrees off the tower, and the estimated distance from the tower to the fire.[1]
Part of the lookout's duties include takingweather 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 usetriangulation from the radials to achieve an accurate location of the fire.
Once ground crews andfire suppressionaircraft 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 awilderness 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 musthike in, or be lifted in byhelicopter. 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 orvolunteer staff. Some volunteer organizations in the United States have started to rebuild, restore and operate aging fire lookout towers.
Although it was considered as “man’s work” in the United States, women have been doing the job almost from its beginnings.[2]
The 2016 video gameFirewatch follows the story of a fire lookout, Henry, inShoshone National Forest after theYellowstone fires of 1988
Desolation Angels, a semi-autobiographical novel by Jack Kerouac published in 1965, the opening section of which is taken almost directly from the journal Kerouac kept when he was a fire lookout on Desolation Peak in the North Cascade mountains of Washington state.
The video gameFears to Fathom - Ironbark Lookout follows the story of a fire lookout at the fictional Ironbark State Park.[6]
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