Type: Lookout
Last night the stars were beautiful. I woke up a couple of times to be amazed by them. Too bad that I was too tired to really meditate and give glory to their creator. Maybe tonight will be a different story.
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| Deer Brush |
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| Yerba Santa |
I will make the cab look as little lived in and more like how I found it when I came in yesterday. Why? I will be starting the training process with Marcus today and I want him to go through the process as if he was coming in without the benefit or distraction of me being here yesterday. After giving a brief inspection, I went downstairs, closing up the lookout like I am going home-I ain’t.
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| Evening at Delilah |
I had enough time to go for a short walk. After doing one lap around the loop around the tower-it is more than what it sounds like, I hear Marcus’ truck coming up. We greet each other. There are a whole bunch of gnats around so we will not talk long down here. I have him walk through as if he is opening up the tower. And then we climbed up it, looking for smokes-none found. We get in and I show him the checklist for opening and closing the lookout. It takes awhile to explain and do-it is much quicker when it is second nature. But that is why we train and then repeat and train.
Each new lookout goes through several layers of training. First, there is a day of new lookout orientation at the Hume Lake Ranger District office. Then a general training day with all of the old timers. The new lookout then gets to get in the tower for two separate days. The first day, which is today, is general on how to be a lookout and get some real life experience. See Background for a full description of this day. The day two is both a review of day one and learning the territory of a particular lookout.
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| Night Sky |
Marcus showed an interest in the clouds we were seeing. I could not answer the question well, but I knew who could. After a little while, Kathy called back and I got Marcus on the line. She was able to answer his questions and more. It is wonderful having a person like Kathy as a resource (and friend, I like to think), so willing and knowledgeable.
We trained some more all afternoon, using the radio and firefinder. About 1730 we ended the session, including a tutorial on how to fold the flag. I went out of service a half an hour later. I fixed my dinner of quesadillas. It is filling. By the time I was done, it was getting close to 2000. Downstairs I go and stretch my legs for about 20 minutes on the loop and down to the saddle below us.
Background
The subject matter which the first day of training includes:
Opening up the tower. This includes unlocking the gates and cab doors, getting the flag up, taking the weather, reviewing notes the previous lookout left behind and turning on the radios.
Going In Service. This is letting the dispatches and the Forest know that we are open for business and are available to be of use.
Scan. Every 15 minutes we do a visual sweep of all of our territory. This is both with the naked eye and with binoculars. There is a technique to master to do a thorough scan.
Weather. We size up the weather twice a day. This includes looking at the sky and determine cloud coverage, recording wind speeds and direction, what is the visibility, how much run has fallen in the last 24 hours-usually none, and determining the relative humidity. Plus we listen to the weather forecast for our area, along with the staffing and fire indices.
Radio. This is a major topic. We have two radios which are usually tuned to Sequoia National Forest (Porterville) and Sierra National Forest. Including
What to listen for. We usually key to those who are in our area as well as dispatch announcements.
Tone alerts. These alert us to changing conditions or that an incident is underway
Talking on the radio. We do not use the 10 codes, only clear text. Still there are certain ways of talks, using affirmative for Yes, negative for No, copy for I got your message, and a few more.
And then there is how to adjust what we we listen too-such as changing what channels the radio will pick up automatically and what channel will take priority over the others.
We also have two radios, one a base radio, the other a handheld. While both have similar functions, to get there is a bit different.
Osborne Firefinder. A simple device really, but one which has been in use since the 1920’s. It’s base has a map of the area with the lookout centered in the middle, oriented towards the north. There is an outer ring which a sighting mount, non-magnified is there and a tape which runs across the middle. When a fire is spotted, you swing the sighting mount so that it points to the smoke. From there you read the degrees from north, the azimuth. When you have determined the location of the fire, you can compute the distance.
Map Reading. We have an assortment of maps. Delilah is special in that we have maps laid out across the tops of all of the counters-they are under glass. Anything which is within about 20 miles of us is there, and usually many more miles away. The most important maps are the topo quadrangles. The use of contours to determine where land features are is usually foreign to new lookouts and it takes some practice to understand them. But once mastered, you can figure out a bunch of detail beyond where are the roads.
Smoke Reports. This is where the above all gets put together. Once a fire is spotted, how do you report it in an accurate, comprehensive and cohesive manner? There is a script which has been developed to get the information. It is important to report only which you know, not what you can speculate on. You get the azimuth and distance-if you can see the base of the smoke. Describe the smoke you are seeing along with a description of the location, including its “legal” coordinates (township, range and section). Then get on the radio and start reading what you wrote down.
Safety. Such as what to do when lightning is close by, safely entering the lookout
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