Fire outlook towers

[sirbuildalot]

Do any of you guys have one of these in your area? I have one about 1.5 miles from my house. They're really pretty interesting structures. Kind of like giant treehouses minus the tree. It seems many were built in the teens and twenties, and suffered fire (ironic) or hurricane damage, and were then rebuilt in the 40's through the 60's.

Heights can vary widely, but 60-68' seems to be a common height. Cab sizes also vary, but 8' x 8', 12' x 12' and 15' x 15' seem pretty common. I know some of the ones out west are much taller. Many have been converted to allow people to spend the night like a hotel. Most are owned by the government, and some are still in active use to this day, as is the case with the one near me. These were used around the world, not just the united states.

This is the one in my area. For those unfamiliar with these structures they were widely used to detect smoke over a wide area. Typically up on a hill or high elevation area of town. 360 degree views with windows, binoculars, and a device called an "Osbourne fire finder", were common features to allow the attendant to alert the station of possible fires.

 

[rwoods]

The one in your photo looks identical to the one within a mile from where I grew up in Florida. Always rumored to shock you if you touched it. Similar rumor that only if you were in the cabin were you safe from lightning so you better not linger on the stairs - lightning was regular and often in our area. Either rumor was effective to keep us kids at bay.

I now live at the foot of the mountains in East Tennessee. The structures here are shorter but with much larger cabins - once equipped to live in.

None around me are active.

Ron

 

[avason]

I’ve seen one of those in cape cod.

 

[sirbuildalot]

Most of the all steel towers were manufactured by the same company Aermotor.


http://www.firelookout.org/fire-lookout-types.html

 

[c5rulz]

Man would that be a "dream job". Sit in a tower, look out the window and have nobody hassling you.

 

[Mad Professor]

We had them all over the mountains here in NE. Sadly most have been abandoned/neglected by the states/feds. One of my favorite mountain hikes as a child was to one of the towers where a friendly ranger would let us visit, use the optics, and have a grand ole time.

 

[Biigg50]

The boys and I visited this one just a couple weeks ago here is far Northern California. It’s located above the McCloud arm of Shasta Lake. Up till last year it was rented out for weekend use. Now it is closed as the government is renovating it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[capetrees]

their still used around here to pinpoint where the fire is in a large open forest or park. In the area, two or three are used to triangulate where the fire is. Each tower has a compass type table and if a fire breaks out, each tower will communicate back to HQ with an angular direction from their respective tower and ten HQ can tell local fire fighters exactly where the fire is and perhaps how to attack the fire from accessible roads

 

[GVS]

Most of the all steel towers were manufactured by the same company Aermotor.


http://www.firelookout.org/fire-lookout-types.html

Interesting.Never heard that but they certainly had the experience having made many, many windmill towers.

 

[GVS]

Do any of you guys have one of these in your area? I have one about 1.5 miles from my house. They're really pretty interesting structures. Kind of like giant treehouses minus the tree. It seems many were built in the teens and twenties, and suffered fire (ironic) or hurricane damage, and were then rebuilt in the 40's through the 60's.

Heights can vary widely, but 60-68' seems to be a common height. Cab sizes also vary, but 8' x 8', 12' x 12' and 15' x 15' seem pretty common. I know some of the ones out west are much taller. Many have been converted to allow people to spend the night like a hotel. Most are owned by the government, and some are still in active use to this day, as is the case with the one near me. These were used around the world, not just the united states.

This is the one in my area. For those unfamiliar with these structures they were widely used to detect smoke over a wide area. Typically up on a hill or high elevation area of town. 360 degree views with windows, binoculars, and a device called an "Osbourne fire finder", were common features to allow the attendant to alert the station of possible fires.

There is one about 30 MI. from me on Debar Mt.The tower was locked up when I visited many years ago,mid 1950's.It was still being used at that time however it has been unused for years.Part way up the mountain,before it got real steep,there was a small log cabin for the watcher to live in during the fire season.There was a phone line from the tower to the cabin and then out to the world.

 

[sirbuildalot]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...F7F1C70CA4C4D6E54F64F7F1C70CA4C4D6E&FORM=VIRE

 

[olyman]

and they are the

Interesting.Never heard that but they certainly had the experience having made many, many windmill towers.

only windmill type of pumps left..believe they are in tx???

 

[Jhenderson]

We’ve got 3 within a 10 mile radius. One of them is 2 miles north of my home. They haven’t been manned since I was a kid in the early 70s.

 

[Big_Al]

Quite a few in the Pacific northwest, some are used by campers. Don' think any are used by forest service

 

[dave_dj1]

The only one I have ever visited is in the Green Mountains, on Glastenbury Mt. It's steel with an open station, we get to it on snowmobiles in the winter. I have never hiked to it. I see them around different places though.

 

[Guswhit]

There was 1 on EBAY for sale a year or so ago. Don't remember where it was located. I believe it was dismantled I large sections, I believe it was over 70 tall. What kind of footing do you think it would take to hold that? I think they wanted some outrageous price, Like over $50K.

 

[sirbuildalot]

There was 1 on EBAY for sale a year or so ago. Don't remember where it was located. I believe it was dismantled I large sections, I believe it was over 70 tall. What kind of footing do you think it would take to hold that? I think they wanted some outrageous price, Like over $50K.

A big one!!!

Seriously, there are a lot of factors to consider:

Soil bearing capacity
Wind loads
Types of storms typical in your area
Cab size
Snow load on cab
Typical frost depth
Structure height
Is it even allowed???

An engineer should be consulted for such an endeavor, if your town would even let you erect such a thing. Usually Zoning By-Laws restrict the height of accessory structures as well as primary structures.

Would be pretty frickin' cool though!!!

 

[peakbagger]

There are a couple of companies on the internet selling these towers. I think they would prefer to erect them for the buyer. Most of the ones I have seen are tied directly into the rock. They tend to attract lightning and usually are extensively grounded.

 

[Circle B MN]

Plenty of them here in MN. One just a few miles down the road. There is another in Grand Rapids that the state maintains as a tourist attraction.

 

[Jere39]

This one in French Creek State Park has been closed for several years, but I remember when you could climb to the top landing for a spectacular view of the thousands of acres of big woods around that park. You could not push up the trap door to actually get onto the platform.



A similar one used to sit on top of the highest hill in Valley Forge National Park, and you could get into the viewing platform. There was a large center compass table with the names of towns and landmarks on various points of the compass. It too was closed (I think about the time the park became a National Park around 1976). It has since been removed, restored, and rebuilt in the northern part of the state where it offers views of the area called the Grand Canyon of PA.