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Watch Out For the Forest Fire
I worked as a Forest Fire Lookout man for the Ministry of Forests. This was before satellites came into use, to detect lightning strikes, and forest fires.
From May through September I lived about 100 miles north of the City of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada.
During the spring time, when the forest fire hazard was low,
I worked out of the ranger station in a little village called Mica Creek.
Through spring and early summer I serviced campsites.
This work consisted of removing garbage from 45 gallon open drums, and hauling it away to the local dump.
Firewood was provided for the campsites. Campsites were improved with new fire pits, outhouse toilets, and picnic tables. The grounds of the ranger station were serviced by cutting the grass.
As the summer came closer and the weather was hotter,
fire tools were repaired, painted, and sharpened.
Pumps and other fire fighting equipment were tested,
and serviced. When the forest fire hazard became high, to extreme, I prepared for the transfer to the fire lookout. Food and all the supplies I would need for a 21 day stay, in a shack on a mountain top plateau were acquired.
The day arrived, when it was time to make the flight to the fire lookout.
My equipment and I were loaded into a bell 206 Jet Ranger.
The pilot and I took off and flew along the winding Columbia River valley.
We slowly started our climb to fly over the huge hydo electric Dam on Kinbasket Lake. The Mica Dam is one of the largest earth filled dams in the free world. From the dam we flew along the lake and turned right, heading for the mouth of the Wood River. Ever climbing higher, we paralleled the side of Cummins mountain. The trees below became thinner, and more scraggily. Then there was only moss and rocks below.
Flying above the plateau where the lookout was, we could see snow below.
The pilot circled above the lookout plateau, testing the speed and direction of the local winds.
Strong wind gusts, and down drafts are a frequent
hazard in mountain flying.
With the winds being checked, we made our final approach to a flat area of snow, not far from the lookout. On landing the pilot packed the snow under the helicopter skids, by gently hopping the helicopter up and down a few times. This is a safety procedure to prevent the snow giving way under one side of the helicopter, causing it to tip over.
My supplies were unloaded and the helicopter flew away down the mountain side. Opening and Checking out the lookout came next.
The lookout building looked like a white cube shack, with 4 windows on each side. The lookout building was elevated above the ground about 6 feet.
On one side a stairway, led up from the ground to a balcony like catwalk, that wrapped the exterior of the building on 3 sides. Once satisfied that the lookout had survived the previous winter, I moved my supplies inside. The propane tank was moved over the snow, to be connected to the line outside the lookout. Once the gas was turned on, the fridge, and cooking stove inside the lookout were started. My daily routine went something like this.
After getting up in the morning, I had a look around at the country side, across from and below the lookout.
I scanned the area, first by naked eye, and then using binoculars.
My morning check in with the ranger station, by two way radio came next.
After breakfast, I would take my two way f.m. radio with me, on a walk to a secondary lookout spot.
This was just above the Wood River arm on the lake below me. This lookout was perched on the edge of a cliff, looking down into the Wood River Valley.
I would spend some time at the secondary lookout,
looking all around for smoke or signs of fire. While the snow was on the ground, I shoveled it into a cistern. As the snow melted in the reservoir, it provided water used for washing.
During the day I would do some painting, on the exterior of the lookout.
I also built a summer helipad, on the most flat area of the plateau.
This was done after the snow on the ground had melted in mid August.
Every hour or so, I would look around the entire area of lake and forest below me, searching for smoke, or fire.
The life up there was quiet most of the time, with the exception of the occasional violent storm. The most exciting times were when thunder and lightning storms came. The lookout was tied down by steel cables buried in the ground. These cables also acted as a lightning arrester
system. As a thunder storm came closer the lightning rods on
the corners of the lookout roof would start to hum.
Dark clouds would come closer. The wind outside would pickup, and shake the lookout building.
If not for the cables holding it down, the building would surely have been blown away.
Loud thunder would clap, and buckets of rain would fall.
For a few minutes there would be no visibility outside, because of the darkness and heavy rain that the storm brought. This would blow through.
Then I would search the forest below me for freshly sparked lightning fires. Such was the life of a Forest Fire Lookout man.
An era gone now, with the advent of satellite surveillance technology.
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BC Maps-Lake Revelstoke and Kinbasket Lake
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