For all things fire lookout / fire tower!Previous: >>2694387
The last thread was so good let's see if this will work as a general.
>>2725177
>>2725176Is it true they only give these jobs out nepotistically? You need to have a friend or an uncle to get the job?
>>2725180the fire watchman in the last thread got hired normally, he said when you apply just make sure to call the guys hiring
Found out about this baby fire tower at Clemmons State Forest in North Carolina. For a bit of fun what type is this, modified 22' LS-40?
>>2725196the only inside view i could find online
>>2725196Bro that shit ain't spotting no fires
Isle Royale, Michigan. They all mar the scenary.
>>2725180Theres specific things about applying to federal jobs. Learn those. Helps to volunteer or work for the agency or one that works with them
is there a good way to find towers that aren't used anymore? I've been wanting to stay in one but the ones with reservations are always booked
>>2725180Fire watch is a very easy job and guys will do it for decadesThat said it requires the least amount of qualifications, trail builder tier. Anons are interested because it's a low hanging fruit job they don't want a real /out/ job
>>2725791https://ronkemnow.weebly.com/pagethis shitty page has a ton organized by state
a type of fire tower ive found that's not mentioned on the firelookout.org infographics is this seemingly unique octagonal one from mesa verde national park, built in 1939
>>2725993here is another stone octagonal type in weeks state park in new hampshire, however this was originally built privately in 1912 and only converted into a fire tower in 1941
>>2725994the last of the octagonals i know of is this one in harlem, new york
>>2725995almost forgot about this one in the smokey mountains built in 1937-39, it also has the same stone foundation as >>2725993so is this a separate type not on the infographics? both this and the one in mesa verde were constructed by the nps around the same time
firelookout anon from last thread, ill dump some of my pics, this is a 'kalispell' L4 cab, a prototype. in serious need of upkeep.
D-6 and probably my favorite lookout ever, just got new shingles and paint over the last two years. The windows have graffiti etched in from the 30s - 40s so I'm glad they didn't get replaced.
R-6 and the lookout I've stayed in the most (2+ weeks in total over multiple years). Compared to a lot of others its very bare bones (only beds, no wood stove or firefinder as of 2023), but it does have cool chairs on glass insulators in case of a lightning storm.
>>2725993unfortunately i think a lot of the firelookout.org information is west of the plains information, it would be really helpful if there was a resource to learn more about this extremely unique lookouts that occur east of the Mississippi.
D-6 on poles?
>>2726064another
>>2726064oh hell yeah
>>2725176Which does /out/ prefer? Firetowers or lighthouses?
>>2726313I love both a ton, but if I had to pick I'd go with firetowers. This is a favorite of mine located in Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina.
>>2726313i think i like them both the same, just fire towers are more accessible to me personally so i've been able to access them and nerd out a bit. theyre really similar in that they've both been phased out by modern technology for the most part, though there are a few examples of lookouts and lighthouses that are stilled manned in areas that need them.
>>2725176About a month ago I went up pic rel at Oubache SP in Indiana. The time before that was about 40 years ago.
>>2725999Damn, I'd live in that.
>>2726496was there more forestland when it was built or was it for grassland fires?
>>2725176
>>2726773another octagonal fire tower!
>>2725176What happens when you get to the top and realized you forgot they keys in the truck?
>>2725176Is this like trainspotting but for black belt level autists?
>>2726911I’d say that trainspotting is more autistic but basically yeah
>>2726536No idea.
Green Mountain Lookout in Oregon, looks like a military installation
>>2727289so does Thompson Peak in Montana, but goddamn did it have the best amenities of any lookout I've ever stayed in. refrigerator, electric cooktop, baseboard heating, recessed ceiling lights. it was a trip.
>>2727307fucked up pic, not rotating dont care
old fire tower that no longer exists, i found it interesting since it was connected to a house
>>2725176Fire tower in Highland County VA that I visited last summer.
Middlesex Fells, MA, supposedly used as a lookout in the 30s.(I don't know why you people keep saying "firewatch", which is the institution of making boot Marines stay awake at night in the barracks in case there's a fire. Everyone who works in wildland fire calls the structures build to look for fires, as well as the people who staff them, "lookouts." Actually, I do know why, it's because of the video game.).>>2727289whoa, never seen one like that before. I like it.
>>2727850(not my pic, but I've been there.).
Pretty interesting lookout built 90ft up into a ponderosa pine near Glenwood, WA in the 1940's.
>>2728335It was decommissioned in 1958 but has still managed to stay up there.
>>2728335>>2728337very cool, unusual seeing a crow's nest design be built so late
>>2726064>>2726067I guess these are more common than I thought, just found another
>>2728337hows the tension on the cables doing
>>2729063only one cable as far as i can tell is left, and slacking by a couple of feet.
>>2725180Just started cold calling ranger stations where they had a hard time filling for job.Tedious, but here is a map. You need to check each one to see if they say active and just call nearby ranger station.https://www.firelookout.org/worldwide-lookout-library.htmlHere's Eastern Montana for instancehttps://www.firelookout.com/EMontanamap.htmlPlaces like washington state are going to hire a lot easier than more rural places anyways.I was a college dropout with experience in IT, so nothing to technically qualify me. The USA Jobs system failed me left and right.I called places, introduced myself, and said I was willing to do paint, clean the place up, or whatever it took. I also called government job hiring places asking if any lookout positions in the state needed filling.>>2725792lol true. it's a job for losers in a dead end in life or retired people. bet you can guess which one i am
have any of you done any cool hikes to get to a fire lookout?
>>2730676my favorite lookout (pic rel) is a hike in, its not a hard hike (5mi and 1300ft) but it was the first one i stayed at so it has a place in my heart (pic rel). I'm planning on hiking to a pretty remote D6 that is first come first serve this summer that is 12mi and 3600ft so thats gonna be a stinker of a hike.
hiking to a couple fire lookouts in the ozarks and ouachitas this week
i suggest signing up to be a member of the FFLA, you get a periodic magazine with neat updates about lookout restoration and some of the folks that used to/still staff them
>>2731455forest jannies razor wired this one off despite it being at the highest point in the ozarks
>>2732825i think this one was a gabled L-4, very beautiful
>>2732827love the base structure
>>2732828here's what it looked like inside
Fryingpan Mtn, NC
Mount Arab firetower
is this a real fire lookout turned into an airbnb? or just a pseudo-lookout
>>2736124looks like a legit l4 cab turned airbnb but my issue is this uncanny valley liquid gold firepit, what the fuck
Which of these woods is good to make a fireplace for cooking?
>>2736152i thought it was a firepit at first too but now it looks like that might be a hot tub
>>2736152Airbnb listing says it’s “built to resemble”. Now I want to build one as an off grid house in the mountains, minus the gold hot tub. I tried to have ai make me a mock up of the RMNP one but with a single pitched roof for a more modern look. All of the cheap mining claims above 10k ft are on the north faces, so the south views wouldn’t be as good and that roof style means more windows for the northern views and maximum roof space for solar/satellite
what are some unusual north american fire lookout designs you have seen?
>>2733478gorgeous, love the appalachians
I climbed my first fire tower on top of Stratton mountain in Vermont last weekend and I was so excited I totally forgot about my extreme fear of heights until I got to the top. The view was gorgeous until I saw all the way down the mountain and wind blew through all the missing panes of glass and knocked me out of my awe of nature. I had to climb down backwards. I would share pictures but my friend who also went up and took them also heavily edited them.
>>2740691how'd he edit them?
I visited Taum Sauk Mountain last year but didnt learn until now that there was a gorgeous lookout I missed
>>2742195what type is this? L-6?
>>2725196>>2725217It's a newborn, be nice.
all the lookouts in my state are aermotors...
I start fires
>>2729521I didn't know they enclosed that one. Last time I visited the top was still just an open platform.
>>2742195The top room within the tower itself was locked when I went several years ago, but the view is still great at the top of the stairs
>>2725196nigga this is a deer stand
>>2736124>fire tower below the canopy line
>>2749999Good, I need the overtime
>AI>steals your /flg/ job>:smugpepe:
>>2749982australia?
stayed at this little beauty last week, original treated timber poles. was interesting because it had full electric interior including a fridge and range. definitely unique compared to a lot of others i've stayed at which are lucky to even have a wood stove.
bumbp
>>2755824how do you go about staying in one? first come first serve or rented privately
>>2755784yeah blue mountains
>>2758895rec.gov
>>2758956how common are they down there?
>>2725176Dont know if this is related or not. What are the chances of getting a fire watch job in the usa as a european. Id love to do an out oriented job for a while and this sounds excellent
>>2761099if you have any type of degree in forestry or any firefighting experience the chances are pretty good. the hardest part is finding a job that hasn't been staffed by the same guy/gal for the last 30 years. usajobs.com is the website you would use and the openings usually pop up around december/january. don't get picky with where you want to be and you can eventually get a job where you want to be after so many years.
>>2761099Considering the market for that position is dwindling rapidly, you're probably better off doing something else.Firewatch is being replaced by machines - cameras, satellite imagery, ai/ml. Faster, cheaper, more accurate than humans are. t. tower climber that installs firewatch cameras.I get to work outside when it's nice, then do inside shit when the weather sucks.Pic related. PTZ optical and FLIR at 110 ft.
>>2761183>>2761199thanks for the responses
>>2725176Not that this is fire lookout but is fire related, but how hard is it to get a job as a wildland firefighter?
>>2761364not hard, i submitted a shit ton of applications on usajobs and got several responses back
>>2761364if you just want to dig lines and fuck around its pretty easy, if you want to be a hotshot you have to go through training and then you only make $25/hr to risk death.
>>2761077not very i think
kalispell l-4 bump
>>2725176how do you get a job in wildland fire
>>2761364we've been getting hammered up here for the last 7 years with fires up here in Northern California. I guarantee you if you want work fighting fires, you can find it here. It ain't easy tho, and you might have to start out as a volunteer, but any help we can get up here is much-appreciated.
my dog in an R-6 flattop on 40' poles i stayed in last week
>>2765206a fucked up lidar scan i did of the cab interior featuring my wife and dog, i have a few lookouts scanned for memory/preservation but i just need to get better at scanning.
How does one go about getting this job?
>>2765862you can either get it as a job (via being a firefighter or experienced in GIS/forestry) or just rent the lookouts they don't man anymore and LARP
i've got 4 lookout stays lined up over the next month will dump pics after each one
>>2769009looking forward to them!
>>2726536there was obviously more forestland, otherwise there would be no point in a firewatch being there.
>>2769009>>2770343hey guys heres some pics from my last lookout stay, this an R-6 built in the 60's, and one of my wife and I's favorite lookouts.
>>2772337view looking south from the lookout, view north is interesting but the mountains are further off and the peaks and cliffs are much closer looking south. makes for a great view.
>>2772338alidade and finder are 100% intact, these instruments are older than the lookout itself (outside of the alidade map, which was replaced before this season). there was a guide on how to gauge fires with them but I never got a pic, this link here is the exact literature in the lookout itself. from my experience i'd say 2/5 lookouts still have a working alidade, and even less have a usable map unfortunately.http://iamwho.com/cdv2/doc/finderUsersGuide.pdf
>>2772339an interesting feature for this lookout- that I have only seen at about 4 -5 of the 20 - 30 lookouts i've stayed at, is the telegraph glass insulated chairs to protect from lightning strikes. never had to spend a night on these, but in a previous journal entry at this same lookout I read a couple spent all night sitting on the chairs waiting for the storm to pass.
>>2772340thats it for this lookout, I will be staying at a recently renovated D-6 cupola lookout I've stayed at a few times like this one. enjoy this pic of the current lookout and my pup.
>>2772338sweet view>>2772339>>2772340that's really cool! i love learning about all the instruments used at lookouts, most of our lookouts in the midwest arent as complex
Are there ever firefighter generals on this board? Which board would that even fall under? /k/? lel
>>2772340I have spent the evening in one of these. It's a spiritual experience sitting there in a 6 ft by 6 ft metal box hoping you make it to the other side of the dunder head.>>2761364not hard. just apply in fall and anywhere you get through to, call the ranger station to let them know your name.. most the fire personnel are old ffashioned and if you aren't a flake they will bend over backwards in many areas.Ours is under its recruitment every year.>>2761199he's not wrong. he installed one on me. still possible to do but you have to fit the description of being retired or at a dead end in life as i said here>>2729191
>>276451922-23 were slow as fuck>>2761364easy if you're willing to go anywhere>>2761448ehhhhhotshottin aint special but at least you'll get out, beats mowing the lawn and pressure testing hose for 40hr/week checks
this one was on the side of a state road just outside of Mark Twain National Forest
>>2773063same model and size, but this time within the Hercules Glade Wilderness Area
>>2773064old dilapidated lookout in Roaring River State Park, at least they let you climb it
>>2773065the "view" from the top
>>2772341hey yall back from my latest trip, here is the D6 cupola i just stayed in for a couple nights. this is my fourth stay, and the lookout has been moderately restored since my first stay in 2021. this lookout was built in 1924 so it was really neat to spend a few nights celebrating its centennial.
>>2773983view inside the cupola, this pole is where the old firefinder would have been. most likely removed in the late 90's from its first restoration unfortunately. there are shingles everywhere cause the roof got re-shingled in 2022 and there was a massive shingle pile, so folks used them to budge the windows to prevent shaking in the wind.
>>2773985upright pic
>>2773986tip of the cupola, these are 100 year old timbers.
>>2773987guy-wire setup between the original, wood post attachment system and the modern wrap and rod setup.
>>2773989and the newly renovated shitter, i have a shitter view pic if anyone is interested. i have 3 more lookouts planned to the middle of october, two R-6 on 50' - 55' poles and one Kalispell L-4 ground house, if anyone has any suggestions or wants for pictures let me know!
>>2773990necessary sage for spam but i have plenty of other pics from this stay and previous including some nearly 100 year old window graffiti, the old pit toilet site with a number of feet of telegraph wire, some odd electrical components in the lookout itself i figure relates to telegraphs, and inside of the bottom cabin itself, as well as some before/after the restoration from 2021 to current.
Mt. Graham, Arizona. Not climbable. The cab has no floor.
>>2774733
bass pro shops fire lookout in hooksett, new hampshiremade me think of you guys
>>2775612the sign on the other side has fallen into disrepair
>>2775612this is awesome, might have to make a pilgrimage there
>>2775612>>2775613*kneels*
>>2777516You are an ironing board.
>>2729191are they still hiring this late in the season?
>>2761199since they've made campfires non-permitted and satellites are becoming easier to get data from for infrared thermal imaging these are nonjobs
>>2725792>trail builder tierDo you have any good resources on trail building? I don't know that I'd want to pursue that line of employment but I want to learn to make good trails on my land and help maintain some of the neglected ones that I use on public land.
>>2725993>>2725994>>2725995>>2725999>>2726773Octagonal towers are based.
kalispell l-4 that was restored
Cool topic!
just stayed in a 102 year old D-6 cupola prototype, will be uploading more pics soon
I just got into 35mm and took this the trip before last. Milleacs MN
>>2782502inside, floor is newer but most of the windows timbers are over 100 years old
>>2782807window etch from 1935 (i think)
>>2782808ladder up to the cupola
lifesaving bump
anyone know the condition of devils peak lookout in oregon
im a tourist here to say these things are terrifying and looking at these images has driven me nearly to vomit, i am so anxious at even the thumbnails. bump.
>>2784822needs love but i see a newer stovepipe so obviously there has been some work done. unique L-4, not many like this on stilts are still standing, let alone getting care.
I live in WA and was wondering about taking an long break from work during the summer to do this
>>2784993as a job or just hiking around? if you have the right qualifications getting the job can be easy, but you wont be assigned to a lookout or area you're familiar with unless youre lucky. take a summer off to rent or hike to the fc/fs cabins? thats a dream, i've done it a few years and i dont regret a single year i've done it.
>>2784923ty : )
bump
>>2725176I worked a park ranger for free for 2 weeks one fire season in one of these towers. But it was a luxury one with shower/bathtub/toilet, AC/heat, bed, flat screen TV, internet wifi, nice bed, little kitchen/stove/sink setup and even a nice ceiling fan. They do a program where you can work for free and stay in for 2 weeks at a time in my local forest area. I did it just to get away and was thinking it would be a good idea to stop drinking alcohol. id just read, surf the net, watch movies at night and go for little hikes around the tower. Anyone can apply to do what I did but it's got a long waiting list but my friend runs the program so he puts me at top of list anytime I wanna do it again. If it sounds like something one of you anons would wanna do to just get away for awhile lmk and I'll give you info on how to apply. A lot of people do it to do a digital detox according to the guy who I took over from last year. It's a good idea to do a digital detox there, I did a alcohol detox, although it worked I was unable to totally quit as I would've gone into DTs and possible seizure but I did slow down to a point where I was only have the bare minimum of around 2-3 drinks a night. Which to me is nothing, was basically just medicinal enough amount to not die lol
>>2788839What state and how do you apply?
>>2725197Oh no. It's invested with hobbitses.
From rec.gov. I can totally see this guy in my minds eye.
>>2789103>t.
