Fire Lookout Tower Up Close and Personal

[Bo Zarts]

Idaho Panhandle - Fire Season 2024
©2024 Bo Zarts Studio

[hlthe2b]

1. Incredible view...

[flying_wahini]

2. Do you have to haul water up there?

Are there stairs or an elevator to get up there?
Do you sleep up there, too?

[Bo Zarts]

5. Yes, yes, no, yes ..

1: Yes. The brown boxes on the catwalk under the flag are 5-gallon "cubies" of water, each weighing a little over 40 pounds. There are eleven showing, including the one on the left corner, one in the lookout, and eight empties in the back of my truck. That represents 100 gallons (800 pounds) of water. I replenish at the ranger station mid-season with another 25-30 gallons, just to be on the safe side.

2. Yes. There are 43 very steep steps to ascend the 30 feet up to the lookout.

4. No. No elevator, sadly. But I do have a pulley-hoist system, mainly for small loads less than about 30 pounds (backpacks, groceries, etc).

5. Yes. I live and sleep in the lookout. My normal shift is 13 days on, one day off. I am on duty 12 hours a day, but available 24.

[Beartracks]

8. 13 on, 1 off. Does a floater cover the 1 day?

[Bo Zarts]

10. No .. I have not been in a lookout with a relief on my day/days off since 2013 in Oregon.

If conditions warrant, the fire managers sometimes postpone my off day. But usually other arrangements are made, like increased reconnaissance flights or road patrols by firefighters.

[spike jones]

3. The range spans an area of 24,223 square miles and is named after the bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva),

, a small pink flower that is the state flower of Montana.

[marble falls]

4. When will you be snowed in?

[Bo Zarts]

6. My last day in the lookout for the 2024 season was September 4.

I got back home to South Carolina in time for hurricane Helene.

[marble falls]

7. If it ain't the snow, it's the rain. The wind is hardly ever a friend.

[4lbs]

9. LOL. A FIRE "lookout" tower.... made of wood.... that burns... in a fire.

Good one.