Hi, visiting the US from Australia in late April and have been dreaming of visiting a fire lookout. It's quite hard to find info on them and I was hoping someone would know of one along this route that wouldn't take too many hours to hike to. I had planned to visit Tolmie Peak on mt Rainier but just realized the road won't be open for another month. Can anyone help?

I'm writing a short informal piece on fire lookouts and am interested in the frequency that new fire lookouts quit before the end of the season (it is my understanding that the job is typically for the whole summer period). I'm also wondering if the number of people quitting prematurely has substantively risen since the success of the video game Firewatch.

I am also interested in how often people take the job again after their first time.

I would appreciate any information whether empirical or anecdotal!

Hey! I just finished a game and it was about a fire lookout and I really enjoyed it (firewatch). I know it’s difficult to compare irl to a game and have reasonable expectations, but that’s why I’m asking yall. Are we allowed to like go hiking and stuff? And can we have our friends apply for the towers around us? I’m a 16m still in high school, but thought this would be a cool experience for a summer before I have to deal with real life or whatever lol.

I'm currently 16, and of course plans aren't set in stone, but I feel like I've done enough research and like reading to know that this is something I really want to do. I've always loved nature, been hiking / camping all my life, and I really do thrive by myself. I wanted to ask all of you guys and gals for like things I can start doing now? like what volunteering do they look for the most, is there stuff I can start doing now, and like if theres any places that are consistently needing more staff, so hopefully I'll be able to get one ASAP. My family is moving to michigan after I graduate HS, and I've already decided I'm not going (issues w/ family), so it'll be nice to be alone.

Sorry for the wall of text, but I wanted to make sure i'm getting all my thoughts and questions down.
Thanks in advance all!

Expanding on that, how did it affect you? How did you cope if it was negative?

Hi friends, I know a lot of us are just waiting for someone to tell us whether we have a lookout job or not. I’m 50/50, no idea which way it will go. But I’m still dreaming and excited for what could be. And I DO feel like I’ve got my instant pot situation sorted, lol. Thank you for the help there. I am still waiting to ask about the solar available.

Since I don’t want to bother overhead right now about things that may not even happen, I’m coming to y’all, especially the long-timers and anyone with this kind of knowledge.

I’d like to lead some (benign, not political, illegal or questionable) hobby-specific get togethers over the summer. Just invite some people to rsvp (keep numbers controlled, maybe 15-20) and join me while we partake in the hobby at my lookout for about 2 hours. I may even lead with instruction and tips.

So… does this sound like it might be a problem? I WILL run it past my supervisor if it looks like a good idea AND I have a lookout job lol. Would I need to do it on my day off? Would that change anything? Could I invite them up to work on their own while I’m working? Is there any conflict with it just being open to the first 20 people that sign up or would it have to be announced on a specific (official) page? What if I just wanted to reach out to a scout group and invite them to work on a badge and it wasn’t my hobby?

Tell me what y’all know and if this sounds like a maybe or a no way.

I remember a couple of years ago a couple wanted to get married at a lookout on my district and they were considering it but idk if it ever happened. So it seems like it could be possible.

To me it sounds like an outreach opportunity and a chance to share a special part of our public lands with people who might not come otherwise.

Do fire lookout locations have numbers on their roofs for aerial identification?

Hello all!

I have been browsing this community for a while as I've always had a certain love for the idea of being a fire lookout. And now that I just graduated, the time feels right.

I have a decent amount of outdoor and survival experience through things like outward bound, outdoor leadership and survival extra curriculum, and outdoor vounteering experience as well as regular multi day hikes. However, almost none of it is in a formal educational manner as the job listing seems to prefer. And if im being completely honest, a lot of my skills are rusty. I haven't done a lot of the back country stuff since high school almost 5 years ago.

So my question is, I've submitted my application, and I've done my best to express my skills in an honest way. Is their anything I can do to help my chances beyond that?

Thank you for your help!

Hi Guys,

I was looking around Recreation.gov and found that all current reservable California Fire Watch Towers are located in Northern California around the Mount Shasta National Forest area.

Reviewing older forum posts, it seems like there used to be reservable towers in Southern California.

The question is, does anyone know why there are currently no reservable towers in SolCal?

My best bet is that the fires in the last 2-3 years have either destroyed them or rendered them unavailable for reservation.

Thanks!

I've always been curious what people do when they're out of season. What do you do the rest of the year when you're not working a tower?

Will forests still have AD positions with all this going on?

I’ve been looking into staying at a fire lookout tower in New Hampshire and I know that there’s Kearsarge that you’re allowed to stay the night in, but I was just wondering if that’s something allowed in every lookout tower or just that one (unless they’re staffed of course).

Hello everyone! I had my virtual interview about a month ago and was curious if anyone else applying in alberta has heard back from their recruiters. I also attempted to email my recruiter about updates to start/end dates, but have not gotten a response back in over a week. Should I attempt to call the Forest District offices?

I used a tripod for one set of binoculars at my last tower. It was something they had there for a big scope. It was nice and steady/sturdy. I’ve lost my notes on what brand and everything but I remember it being more expensive than I wanted to pay.

Things I liked: -It went TALL. I’m only 5’5” so it was probably over 65” -it wasn’t flimsy, I wasn’t worried about catching a toe and toppling it. My binoculars are on the heavy side but I like them. -it had a pan head, liked the way I could adjust and lock it in. Allowed me to watch some tiny, far off spot without having to re-find it every 10 minutes. -I don’t really care about weight or smallest size, I won’t be hiking with it, aside from a short hike from where I park.

Anyone have recommendations for something under $200? We got a cheapie for my daughter off amazon and I don’t want to end up with something like that. I don’t care about brand as long as sneezing in the same room won’t make it fall over.

Anyone have a recommendation?

I 20f am a Jobcorp student (coming from forestry and fire) hoping to get into one of the GS4 lookout positions in Cali. This is obviously something I’ve never done before, however am extremely interested and excited about.

For some mild background, I know for a fact in terms of isolation I will be 110% fine (Covid) I know at this time I was only 16-17 years old however I essentially lived on my own due to my dad being a long haul truck driver and some other situational stuff that made my mom only available to see me once a week for maybe 2 hours max. In terms of wilderness, as you can assume going into a trade for Forestry and Wildland firefighting means I love nature and camping so there is that.

There isn’t any specific advice I want, I am doing as much research as possible into it, even though I can even say I have the job yet. This is still honestly something I’d really love to do in the future even if I don’t get the chance to now. So anyways, go ahead and give me everything you can!

Sorry this might be a really stupid question, but I was wondering if any of you guys are park rangers or forest rangers who will do fire lookout for the season and presume work. If not, do park rangers or forest rangers have a better shot? I'm a highschooler

I'm still in school right now, but when I get out I plan on applying to be a fire lookout. Besides being able to read a map, use a fire finder, and being alone what other skills should I learn

Currently looking into working on a lookout and I was wondering if one could bring their pet to work. I have a cat and no real place to leave it if I do get a job. I know it would require extra food and supply for the little beast but is it a possibility in some places or a big no no all across.

Hello, I’m sorry if this has been gone over, and I’m sure it has, but I have a couple questions.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on becoming a lookout, and would appreciate advice on a couple of things.

• I know I should be networking with people in the field, but I’m not sure who exactly I should be talking to. Direction on that would be immensely appreciated, as well as what kind of stuff I should say or ask. I live in the LA area if that helps at all.

• I don’t have much work experience and am currently in college honestly unsure of what to pursue. I want to pursue a degree that will help with being a fire lookout and related fields, but I’m conflicted on what. I was also considering trade schools but am once again unsure as to what trade schools would help in this field.

• Since I don’t have much work experience at all, I want to know what kind of outdoor work and volunteer opportunities I can do to prepare my resume the best I can. I’ve sent out a couple feelers about becoming a volunteer lookout this next fire season.

Thank you for bearing with me, I plan to get my resume and network into good shape for the 2026 fire season if possible and lucky enough. Thank you again in advance for any pieces of advice you have to share.

Hello All,

I'm a filmmaker making a movie set at a fire lookout tower. We have found it to be extremely hard to find a tower that isn't on recreation.org but also isn't staffed. I thought I'd try this page just to see if anybody might have some insight or ideas.

Does anybody know of a fire lookout tower (anywhere) that could potentially allow a small crew to film at that is either unstaffed but not a rental, or a staffed lookout that we could film at after fire season?

Thanks!

Any new hires in R5 received their email from Albuquerque yet?

Hello, I recently decided to try and become a lookout and after doing some research on it, I’ve found that one of the biggest hurdles in getting a job is previous experience in some form of the field.

What recommendations do y’all have on ways to gain the requirements I might need to fulfill.

Thank you for any help.

Will it effect me if I've accepted the official offer and have been given a start date?

Hello, I'm interested in a volunteer position this summer. It seems like the firelookout.org page is down, is there another place to look for volunteer opportunities?

I live in Alberta and want to be a fire look out over the summer. So I was wondering what if any courses I should take or skills I should learn that might help my chances of being employed or if there’s even still time to apply for this summer. Any amount of info would be appreciated.