While the use of technology to spot and monitor fires across the United States is growing, fire towers are still used, including in the Black Hills National Forest and, in fact, benefit from technology. But it’s getting harder to spot those mountaintop sentinels because their numbers are dropping.
The first fire lookout was built in June 10, 1905, according to cbsnews.com, and the U.S. Forest Service reports that by the late 1930s, there were over 5,000 fire lookouts in the United States.
“Today, due to the development of infra-red detection devices and the deployment of airplanes and helicopters, the lookout system is still utilized but to a much lesser extent,” according to the Forest Service website, which also notes that the number of fire towers in use in the country continues to drop.
According to Scott Jacobson, a Forest Service public affairs officer in the Custer office, four towers are still in use in South Dakota — one in Custer State Park and three in the Black Hills National Forest. Just two fire towers in Wyoming are still used, one being located near Sundance, he said.