Lava Butte Fire Lookout 101st Anniversary 

August 17th 10:00-3:00 @Lava Butte Lookout

Come join current lookout staff, former lookouts, interpreters, forest service fire personnel, and Smokey Bear and celebrate one of Oregon's Historic Icons.

We will  have pictures, stories, fire ecology lectures, and presentations focusing on fire detection, and modern day applications.

 What is it like to be a modern day Lookout Observer?

Here at Lava Butte the Lookout job is a High Stress situation for the most part. We are surrounded by communities that rely and expect early detection and fire suppression. Your homes and businesses are important to us, and so is the surrounding forest. When a fire breaks, we are expected to give an accurate fire report in seconds, 

 delays and mistakes are unacceptable. Even with new technology, much of the job is the same as it was in your grandparents era. We must know every landmark in our seeing area intimately. Fires with the base not visible, as in fires behind a ridge or mountain, are very difficult to ascertain distance, and only experience and local knowledge of the area can keep you from chewing your nails to the bone hoping you got it right. During lightning storms we spend our whole day staring at clouds, sky, and forest, which can and frequently does lead to eye strain, headaches, and an overall feeling of exhaustion. Early detection, prompt fire reports, and excellent crews have kept the major fires at bay here in south deschutes country, at least for the 7 years I've worked here. As many of you know, high temperatures combined with low humidity, can be a explosive situation for fire growth and spread potential. And then wind changes everything. Be cautious this summer!

Joey Michael Hodgson is a lookout, firefighter, extreme kayaker, chainsaw carver, writer, and musician. Check out his blog @onthelookout@blogger.com  His latest music project@joey river black butte porter song contest 

   

Red Flag Warning for Abundant Lightning and Dry Fuels!

Today is the ultimate day to be a Fire Lookout! Receptive fuels, low relative humidity, high based sky wide thunderstorms, and chance of wetting rain at 10% or lower, makes our morning brim with anticipation and excitement! In my life, few things rival a day like this. The local news station called this morning wanting to do a story on "Preparation for Lightning and Fire" from a lookouts perspective. I declined the interview, citing my need to be focused and not distracted. In addition, I've given numerous t.v. interviews throughout my career, and they never turn out the way I think they should have. So today, I give you my perspective! Aren't you so lucky?! Now don't turn off your computer just yet.

What does a lookout do to prepare for a day like this? We start by having everything we might need close at hand, and prepare to work long hours into the night. I have all my maps and map books ready, with lot's of scratch pads for notes. I have notes of where all relevant fire resources are and who is running each module. I have logged my current fire weather readings and take notes on the official forecast of my area. I plumb my firefinder, make sure the scope orientation is dead on (for the third time!), and take a couple of "practise" shots on known locations and check for similar readings. By this time, at this lookout, I've already had several hundred visitors hike up to see the view! Today I have a sign telling visitors that the Lookout is closed to public, and even so, many people disregard and come up anyway. Binoculars at hand. Handheld Forest Service radios charged and ready. Now is the time for me to get charged and ready. Coffee is just what I need!



How many lightning strikes have I seen start wildfires? Probably at least 100, perhaps twice that number counting distant fires. Every time it is exhilarating! Although it can be and usually is epic experience, it is also nerve wracking and exhausting. If I report ten fires four of which could threaten urban interface, I have to be spot on on my location. The margin of error is high, and especially so the greater the distance from my location. Expectation is that I lead a crew right into a fire, and more often than not that is what happens. But, in the height of the storm, when lightning rains down all over the forest, with multiple starts, the adrenaline flows freely and sometimes we make a mistake. We have to be extremely organized because we don't have time to analyze our decisions. They must be made at a moments notice and be right the first time. Often in our haste we read a false azimuth reading or switch numbers around or read the wrong scrap of paper. 

Many times a storm will track right over the top of the lookout tower. Although we have lightning rods and protection, the sound and pressure waves from thunder right overhead, often leave us on our lightning stool with slightly wet pants! The power right overhead can be very scary indeed. More often than not, strong erratic winds are common as the storm passes through giving fire a chance to get a good hold. Last week I was on the deck helping evacuate the butte of tourists when a bolt of lightning hit nearby starting a blaze. At exactly the same time, I got zapped from the metal rod holding the lookout's shutter. It was slightly stronger than a static electricity shock, it was no big deal, but I got inside the cab in a hurry! Tourist's couldn't get to their cars fast enough!

A Red Flag Warning also known as a Fire Weather Warning is a forecast warning issued by the United States National Weather Service to inform area firefighting and land management agencies that conditions are ideal for wildland fire ignition, and rapid propagation. After drought conditions, and when humidity is very low, and especially when high or erratic winds which may include lightning are a factor, the Red Flag Warning becomes a critical statement for firefighting agencies. These agencies often alter their staffing and equipment resources dramatically to accommodate the forecast risk. To the public, a Red Flag Warning means high fire danger with increased probability of a quickly spreading vegetation fire in the area within 24 hours.

Clouds are building. Dark bases developing. It looks like it is going to happen. Time to put the game face on. Keep in mind that wildfire is natures way of cleaning up the land for critters and plants. We need wildfire to keep our planet in check. Some fire we must keep at bay to protect our most valuble resouces, like watersheds, and migration zones. As man encroaches on forest lands it is very likely that fire will impact those communitys eventually.

Thank you for reading.  
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Onthelookout/

Your not worth responding to!

Oh hi, how are you? It has been a while. Last I heard from you was on your automated answering machine. I left you a message and you never returned my call. I guess you didn't care about Uncle Eddies airplane crash. I wonder if you would respond if I won the lottery? Am I not worth responding to?

Is it just me, or is there a current trend of folks who just don't respond? Have you ever got a text message from someone and then called them back at that moment, and they did not pick up? It makes you wonder, doesn't it? Some of these folks are glued to their devices, so you know that they simply did not want to talk. Maybe we are all just to linked into each other, and we need an escape. Are you the one who always initiates a conversation or activity? Are the responses you get short and lack enthusiasm? Does this person only respond to questions and not statements? It might mean several things. They could be on the phone to someone else. Maybe they are busy. Maybe they lack interest in you or in what you are talking about. Maybe they are Lame.


Wow! Yeah! Look at everybody at the mall texting on their phones so busy with their incredible social lives! I'm being sarcastic in case you can't tell. Texting has little to do with social skills, it's a very poor way to communicate to other people. Talking face to face or even on the phone is so much better, there are so many things that you pick up from peoples' faces and voices that you just don't get through text. Doesn't anybody remember these wonderful things we used to have called conversations? Hey texting has it's place, but give your friend a call once in a while, and if you're hanging out with somebody put the phone away and stop texting other people the whole time, it's rude!







Business people know that a quick response will gain customers. Friends stay friends by interest in each others lives. Sometimes it becomes one sided and only one side sees it happening. Sometimes people grow apart. There is a lot of reasons. Life is complicated.

Maybe we all need to to take a chill pill and worry about what matters most to each of us. Respond to the people you care about, and they will be there when you need them. 


I hope you've enjoyed this blog essay. You can subscribe or find more good stuff at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Onthelookout/

Also check out our rock band at:http://www.reverbnation.com/thelookoutsband?profile_view_source=header_icon_nav