The sleepy summer day suddenly turned angry as clouds, booming thunder and torrential rain moved in to ruin my million-dollar penthouse view.
Maybe penthouse is a slight exaggeration.
While the view is spectacular, my accommodations were spartan and I was there to be alert for any puff of smoke that might mean San Diego’s wildlands were on fire.
This will be my fifth summer as a U.S. Forest Service volunteer fire lookout on Palomar Mountain.
Starting May 1, I will about 100 other dedicated and trained volunteers with the Forest Fire Lookout Association who will staff two lookouts daily until fire season ends sometime late this fall.
High Point Lookout is located at 6,143 feet on the east side of Palomar Mountain with views that extend from the desert mountains to the east, south into Mexico, north to San Bernardino and west to the Pacific Ocean.
The climb on an open staircase is 96 steps to reach the cab of the tower. This remote tower can only be reached by a dirt fire road. Visitors are welcome at High Point but are not permitted in the tower.
Boucher Lookout is a 30-foot wooden tower, located at 5,438 feet in Palomar Mountain State Park. It offers commanding views to the south, west and north to Lake Elsinore. On a clear day, you can see Catalina and San Clemente islands and ships at sea. When operational, the public can visit.
On this late July day at High Point, tropical moisture from Mexico was bringing afternoon thunderstorms to the desert and mountains. My quiet summer day had now become tense.
Perched in the 13-by-13-foot all-steel cab, on top of a 70-foot metal tower on one of our highest mountains, can be an exciting place in the middle of a thunderstorm, especially when the lightning starts dancing.
And it was getting close.
The flash of lightning and roar of thunder were seconds apart. The tower was swaying in the wind and now rain was pouring from the metal roof. As a safety measure, I had turned off radios and I was standing on a wooden stool that has glass insulators on the legs that offers protection should lightning strike the tower.
I was focused on recording the location of down strikes since those locations will be closely watched for smoldering fires that might erupt when things dry out.
That’s easy to do when a lightning bolt hits several miles away. It’s a bit harder when lightning and thunder are simultaneous, meaning it’s hitting where you are.
While this was one of the more exciting days in the tower, many lookout shifts are a peaceful, daylong sit-and-see visit with nature.
A typical day in the tower starts with check-in by radio with the fire dispatch center, taking weather recordings and reviewing previous logs for any important information.
Throughout the day, however, lookouts are constantly scanning the landscape for any hint of smoke. Early detection is critical so aircraft and fire equipment can be dispatched as quickly as possible.
Lookouts also spend a lot of time watching nature. It’s common to see hawks or eagles soaring around the towers, flocks of bluebirds, woodpeckers, or a covey of quail.
Deer, foxes, bobcats and even a mountain lion may wander past the tower, oblivious to the lookout watching from above.
The silence of the forest might be interrupted with a siren salute from a ing law enforcement helicopter, or a wing waggle from firefighting aircraft ing en route to a fire.
It’s fascinating to watch weather develop through a bird’s eye view from the top of a mountain. Tiny clouds on the distant skyline can slowly grow into towering thunderheads, or a rain squall moving in from the coast directed by the whim of the wind.
Lookouts work only during the day, but many will occasionally spend the night at High Point because of the remote access.
Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, especially early and late in the season when cold and warm weather fronts clash creating layers of clouds, fog and mist.
On nights when a marine layer brings in a blanket of valley fog, the heavenly view from the tower is spectacular with a sparkling Milky Way painted on an inky sky, or the occasional bright meteor flash.
Being a volunteer fire lookout is mostly a calm and relaxing activity, punctuated by moments of frenzy when smoke is spotted.
That’s when you spring into action, using the Osborne fire finder to plot bearing and estimated distance so this information can be radioed to dispatch.
In the meantime, lookouts are part of a long tradition of service by people who care about our wild places.
A day in a fire lookout tower gives you an intimate look at the cycles of weather, plants, birds and wildlife that, in a sense, lookouts are protecting.
The Forest Fire Lookout Association is always looking for interested volunteers to work in the towers. Training includes three days of classroom instruction and three shifts in each tower to become certified.
If you are interested, visit ffla-sandiego.org.
Maybe I’ll see you in the penthouse.
Cowan is a freelance columnist. Email [email protected] or visit erniesoutdoors.blogspot.com.
