Much less common than they once were, fire lookouts brave isolation to keep forests safe

Ray Brown knows each of the 80 steps that wind in a corkscrew up the 60-foot tower of the Strawberry Butte Lookout. In 2011, he manned the tower full time. “This was my home,” Brown said. “I love it up here.” While working as the fire lookout at Strawberry Butte, Brown lived in the 20-foot-by-12-foot one-room cabin that sits at the base of the lookout tower. The cabin contains a bunk bed, a few shelves, a fridge and a two-burner stove. Everything runs on propane. “This is literally living, dining and sleeping,” Brown said. Brown’s commute every morning involved climbing the 80 steps that lead up the tower to the 8-foot-by-8-foot lookout at the top. The lookout, on all four sides, is covered in windows, divided into small square panes. Inside, a vintage fire finder takes up most of the small space. Although it dates back to the early 1940s, the fire finder is still used to pinpoint the location of a blaze. “This is the heart of a lookout,” Brown said. “It’s a really exact way to find fires.” The fire finder is round, about 14 inches in diameter. The 360 degrees of a compass are marked around its circular base with a map sitting on top. Cross hairs made of horse hair and a slit to look through stick up from the device...more