A look at the life of a fire lookout

direct link to video on Youtube

Fire towers and their lookouts are a vanishing breed, as regular readers know we have a fire towers around New Jersey. A September 15th article on NPR by Nathan Rott, "A Fire Lookout On What's Lost in a Transition to Technology" caught my eye this morning. The article is about Phillip Connors who has been a fire lookout in the Gila National Forest for 17 summers. Phillip is also an author, having written three books, two of them based on his experiences as a fire lookout. I just got his first book, Fire Season, and look forward to reading it.

Gila National Forest has ten fire lookouts. Hikers who pass his way often ask him about satellites and drones, this is how he responded to that question in Rott's article.

'I often feel I'm in a position of having to defend my very existence here,' he says. 'People just sort of assume that the technology has advanced to a point where it would make me totally obsolete' 

There are, he says, many things he can do that a drone can't. He can sit in a tower for an entire day, watching and studying a fire's behavior. He can serve as eyes and as a communication link for fire crews working in the region's rugged terrain. He can apply his experience to put a fire in context and communicate about it in ways only a human can. 

'At $14 and change an hour, I'm also pretty cheap,'  he says.

In addition to getting to know Connor, you will also learn a little about the history of fire towers. I encourage you to spend a few minutes reading the article, there are some very nice images in the article, including some historic photos.