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 wildfires 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 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, 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 after in case of ignition.
The Watchman Lookout Station No. 168 is one of two fire lookout towers in Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon. For many years, National Park Service personnel used the lookout to watch for wildfires during the summer months. It is also a common hiking destination because of its views of Crater Lake and the surrounding area. The building is unusual because it serves the dual purpose of fire lookout and museum. The Watchman Lookout Station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Shadow Mountain Lookout, also known as the Shadow Mountain Patrol Cabin, was built in Rocky Mountain National Park in 1932, to the design of the National Park Service San Francisco Landscape Architecture Division. It was regarded as one of the best National Park Service Rustic buildings in the national park system. It is now the only fire lookout surviving in Rocky Mountain National Park. Three other lookouts, now gone, were located at Twin Sisters Peak, the north fork of the Thompson River and near Long's Peak. The lookout was built by Civilian Conservation Corps labor.
The Twin Sisters Lookout, also known as the Twin Sisters Radio Tower and the Twin Sisters Shelter Cabin, was built by the U.S. Forest Service in 1914, the year before the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park. The rustic stone structure was taken over by the National Park Service in 1925. The one-story building has an arched roof with a trap door to provide access when snow has drifted over the ground-level door. From 1914 to 1969 the shelter served as accommodations for fire observation crews at a nearby frame lookout, which has since vanished. The building is now used as a radio repeater station.
The Arab Mountain Fire Observation Station is a historic fire observation station located on Mount Arab at Piercefield in St. Lawrence County, New York. The station includes a 40-foot-tall (12 m), steel frame lookout tower erected in 1918, an observers cabin built about 1948, a trace of the foundation of the original cabin, a structure probably used as a root cellar in the 1940s, and the foot trail. The tower is a prefabricated structure built by the Aermotor Corporation and provided a front line of defense in preserving the Adirondack Forest Preserve from the hazards of forest fires.
The Blue Mountain Fire Observation Station is a historic fire observation station located on Blue Mountain at Indian Lake in Hamilton County, New York. The station includes a 35-foot-tall (11 m), steel frame lookout tower erected in 1917, an observer's cabin built in 1975, the remains of three observer's cabins, remains of a radar station built in the 1960s, and remnants of telephone lines along the foot trail. There are four contributing resources: the tower, trail, remnants of a 1949 observer's cabin, and 1890s stone benchmark. The tower is a prefabricated structure built by the Aermotor Corporation and provided a front line of defense in preserving the Adirondack Forest Preserve from the hazards of forest fires.
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 design a quintessential image of the American West.
The Sterling Mountain Fire Observation Tower and Observer's Cabin is a historic fire observation station located on Sterling Mountain in Sterling Forest State Park at Greenwood Lake in Orange County, New York. The station includes a 60-foot-tall (18 m), steel-frame lookout tower erected in 1922 and an observer's cabin built about 1934. The tower is a prefabricated structure built by the Aermotor Corporation and provided a front line of defense in preserving the Ramapo Mountains from the hazards of forest fires. The observer's cabin is of light frame construction, sheathed with board and batten siding stained brown.
Suntop Lookout is located on Suntop Mountain in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in central Washington, USA. The fire lookout is at an elevation of about 5,270 feet (1,610 m) overlooking the valleys of the White River and Huckleberry Creek just to the north of Mount Rainier National Park. Built to standard U.S. Forest Service plans, the one-story ground-level lookout measures fourteen by fourteen feet. The frame structure is capped by a pyramidal roof, and features large windows on all four sides with pivoting shutters that act as sunshades.
The Dodger Point Fire Lookout was built in 1933 in Olympic National Park as a fire observation station. The single-story frame structure is located on the peak of Dodger Point above the timber line at an elevation of 5,753 feet (1,754 m). Measuring 14 feet (4.3 m) by 14 feet (4.3 m), it is clad in wood clapboards and has a simple pitched roof covered with wood shakes. Large windows on all four sides are covered by awning-style wood shutters. It was built by the U.S. Forest Service in what was at the time Olympic National Forest, possibly with assistance from the Civilian Conservation Corps. During World War II, the lookout was used as an Aircraft Warning Service station. Dodger Point and Pyramid Peak Lookout are the only such stations remaining in Olympic National Park out of thirteen constructed.
The Big Springs Lookout Tower is a fire lookout tower in Kaibab National Forest near Big Springs, Arizona. The tower was built in 1934 for the U.S. Forest Service by contractors from Kanab, Utah. The steel tower is 100 feet (30 m) tall and features a 7-foot (2.1 m) square cab at the top. A wood frame cabin is located near the base of the tower; the cabin was built in 1959 to replace an older log cabin.
Middle Mountain Cabins are a set of three historic cabins located in the Monongahela National Forest near Wymer, Randolph County, West Virginia. They were built in 1931, and consist of the Main Cabin and Cabins 1 and 2. The Main Cabin is a one-story, rectangular, stained log building measuring approximately 22 feet by 20 feet. It has a gable roof and full-length porch. Cabins 1 and 2 are mirror-images of each other. They are one-story, frame buildings with gable roofs measuring approximately 25 feet by 14 feet. They were built to provide quarters for fire lookouts and to serve as a base for conducting other Forest Service operations. They have since been converted for recreational use, and are available for rental as a group.
The Gold Creek Ranger Station is located in Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Elko County, Nevada, USA. It was built in 1910 to administer the Ruby Mountains Forest Reserve, which became Humboldt National Forest. The compound was later expanded by labor provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
The Hull Cabin was built in the late 1880s near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon by settler William Hull. The Hull family arrived in the area in 1880 and established a ranch in the area, raising sheep and building the Hull Tank, a large earth-banked reservoir for their stock. The Hulls branched out into prospecting and were among the first to take in tourists heading to the Grand Canyon.
The Sourdough Mountain Lookout is a fire lookout that was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. Constructed atop Sourdough Mountain in North Cascades National Park, in the U.S. state of Washington, the lookout was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Three Fingers Lookout is a historic fire observation building on one of the summits of Three Fingers Mountain in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Snohomish County, Washington. Built in 1930 in an extremely challenging location, it is one of the oldest surviving observation posts in the forest. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, and is now maintained by a local climbing group.
The Bishop Mountain Lookout, located in Island Park, Idaho, was created between 1936 and 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, and its cabin is currently available as reserved accommodations through the United States Forest Service.
The Reeds Peak Lookout Tower, at Squeaky Spring in Gila National Forest, on Reeds Peak, New Mexico, was built in 1929. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The Bluewater Lookout Complex, in Otero County, New Mexico near Weed, New Mexico was established in 1937. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The listing included a contributing structure and two contributing buildings.
The Green Mountain Lookout is a historic fire lookout tower located at the summit of Green Mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness and the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Snohomish County, Washington. The single-story wood-frame structure measures 14 by 14 feet and was built according to a standard National Forest Service design in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The structure includes an exterior catwalk and a cable anchor system to protect from strong winds.
