The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1948-08-05
FOREST SERVICE MANNING
ITS 9,200 LOOKOUT TOWERS
AS FIRE SEASON APPROACHES

FOREST SERVICE MANNING
ITS $500 LOOKOUT TOWERS
AS FIRE SEASON APPROACHES
Missoula, Mont, July Is, l948:-
Forest fire lookouts for the 1948 fire
season are now being assigned to
their posts in the Northern Region
as higher temperatures and drying
vegetation raise the fire risk, the
Forest Service in the u. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture reported to-
day Many other regions have al
ready manned their part of the 5000
lookout towers on the 152 national
forests, especially in the South
where the winter fire season re-
quired earlier assignment. Man
ming of fire lookout towers in the
Northern Region is governed by the
Burning Index as determined by
fuel moisture, relative humidity,
wind velocity, and other factors.
This system enables more econo-
! omical operation since the look
outs are placed according to actual
needs rather than on an arbitrarily
set date.
The lookouts are part of the army
of about 7,l00 temporary seasonal
employees which at the beginning
of the fire season each year are
added to the l 200 permanent Forest
Service employees who are avail
able for fire suppression. Aside from
the lookoutS, the other temporary
employees, when not on fire duty. |
work as forest guards or patrols, |
airplane fire spoilers, mechanics |
and laborerS. Whether in deep |
woods camps, ranger or other sta
tionS they are subject to call for |
fire duty at any time of day or
night
In its ceasless job of protecting
national forest timber, the lookoutS
are ''the eyes of the Forest Service"
Keen eyesight is one of their most
essential qualifications. Having a
high general level of eyesight a
mong the lookoHts means that few
er lookout stations are required as
well as greater success in spot
ting" the little Smokes" given off
by fires while they are still small
which spells great savings usually in
numbers of men, machines and dol
lars required to put them out
Failure Of lookout to spot a
smoke until it grows to sizeable
might mean the differ !
ence in cost between being able to |
scotch the blaze with four or five
smoke jumpers parachuted from a {
Forest Service plane and being for :
led to transport hundreds of ground +
lighters to the scene, setting up a
ire camp, & hauling large amounts )
If supplies over mountain trails. =
Forest service men figure the aver
lge cost of putting out a forest fire c
o be about $3.50, but a big fire may a
:oSt thousands of dollars to sup
,ress, to say nothing of far greater v
osses in timber, young trees, recrea- S
ional and watershed values, wildlife S
md forest improvements.
Because of the Importance of I
rood vision in the fire towers, the
Forest Service has developed a spec
al eyeSight test for Would-be look '
'uts. Ordinary letter charts which I
IN optometrist uses to test vision t
will not serve here. The lookout
est chart is a white, SeVen-inch
square plate that can be whirled S
IN center pin at the back. Center {
N the white front surface is mark F
ID by 12inch black dot. Half way
'etween the center and one corner
S another black dot 1/16 of an inch
n diameter.
The person taking the test backs
way from the board until the
mailer spot can just be seen. The
est board is then Whirled and he
5 asked to locate the spot when
he board stops, up, down, right or
eft of center. If he can, he steps
ack few more feet and tries a.
ain. This is repeated until he has
cached the maximum distance at
hitch he can locate the tiny dot
fter the board has been twirled.
It has been found that this max
mum distance accurately indicates
lie number of miles away at which
lie person can locate small smokes
ON a lookout tower, allowing of
purse for haze. For example, a
an with exceptional eyesight can
cate the dot at Ga feet or more
I'D locate small smokes at ii or
ore miles. In a recent group test
eyesight quality, it was found
lat number of regular Forest
arVice men had an average eye
st rating of 81 feet, a group of
llege students SAB and a company
u. S. soldiers sos. Depending
/ the character of the land, avail
,ility of suitable peaks and look
It points, and similar factors, ma
,nal forest lookout are from IL
"a miles apart, each one with a
0kOllt radius of to 70 miles