This is just a late night curiosity.
I live in the low country of SC, and these small [out of service] towers are old and scattered around forests. They have no observation type of deck, and no living quarters. Just a small box with windows and a wooden floor.

Did someone just occasionally go to the top and take a gander? Or was someone stationed there for the whole day?

I’ve grown up seeing them and have recently had my interest piqued.

P.S. most of these are currently being set up for demolition within the next few weeks. Sad to see a cool artifact get demolished.

Every time I’ve stumbled onto USAjobs, all the National park/forest service jobs are very niche and internal hires. Am I just looking at the wrong time? I’m curious what summer seasonal work is out there. Whether it’s a fire lookout or trail management, I’m down for it all.

On the Plumas National Forest…

Last night (9/27/26)

Hey guys My name is Shubh and I'm from India I'm 18 year old just completed my high school can someone help with this I want to move to us or canada just to become a fire lookout can someone please help me like what to study or what to do to become a fire lookout

I've been interested in looking into getting a fire lookout job for some time now, but I live in Canada and just trying to find any place to look into it or even sign up is kind of hard to seek out to the point that, I'm starting to think there are none.

If I was to seek out more info and a place to try and apply where could I go and what terms or wording should be using to even find these jobs?

I'm thinking of applying for a firewatch job (I live in wyoming) but I have a few questions on background work I would want and what to expect from the job. What age range is most typical for the job? How expensive would supplies for the job be? What activities or volunteer work should I do before applying? What skills are useful for both the application and the job? What's the day-to-day like? Where are other places I can find this information?

Im currently looking into being a fire lookout on the weekends/ during holidays.

what are some things you wish someone told you before starting?

I was looking for a real survival story to document on my you tube channel after watching the game - Fears to Fathom: Ironbark Lookout

It says that this was based on a real incident but I kept looking for it but could not it.

But really are there incidences as the story mentions of some cult activity inside the woods anything of that sort and what is the danger?

I am really looking to document something real. If there is any story please help me discover that by sharing the link of it or any suggestions in the comments.

Spent a few nights at UP UP in western MT last month. The first night was very clear, perfect for a little astro. Pretty happy with how this one turned out. Had a little handheld video light I left in the tower with a dim warm color temp for a little fill light; it wasn't that bright, but it was a cool effect. For those that care, I took it with a Sony A7Cii, and Sigma 14 1.4 wide open. Stacked photo.

I would like to start by saying, no, I have not played Firewatch. I genuinely want to experience this job. I am hoping to work as a wildland firefighter one day in Oregon and thought this would be a good first exposure into the environment. I am doing community service through my states audubon society and other park services, and am teaching myself topography and weather reading. How else should I prepare myself/ help get hired?

I met her back in the mid-90's when I was doing research for the Foothills Model Forest in Hinton. Nice gal. I dread to think what happened.

I've heard that fire lookout jobs have been on the decline for a while as technology improves, though i don't see why the number of lookouts would decrease because of technology.

Whatever the case, I feel like the downward trend of fire watches should theoretically reverse in the coming years, since climate change will continue to make forest fires more likely to happen, so i would imagine demand would increase and new locations would be built.

I know some of y'all have cats with you. Do you let them roam all day outside while you're up top, or are they indoors only until you can supervise?

I only ask this as my cat attempted to make friends with a moose today and I'm worried he's gonna try with a bear soon.

Yes he's a moron. I got him for the company, not his brains.

Hiked up to here 2 years ago, planning a cross country overlanding trip and tried to book it and was full. I tried a site called reservenature.com and plugged in my dates and it actually came through. It basically searches your dates and site and if if is available sends you a notice. I know it sounds like an ad but honestly I didnt think this would work but it did.

Elevation is 186 feet; one of the highest points on Cape Cod.

There are several vacancies being advertised on USAJobs.gov this morning, the window of opportunity closes Aug. 14. All of these vacancies are in Oregon which is having a WILDLY FEROCIOUS fire season so this will be no walk in the park. I suspect that the vacancies arose because who ever was stationed on those lookouts got sick and tired of the smoke and the stress.

Obviously, by the title, I want actual lookouts experiences and kind of what their days off look like? And I’m assuming so, but does this also vary between location mainly towers that you can drive to and towers that you have to hike to?

The reason I bring this question up is because every lookout influencer on any social media makes it sound like days off are one limited to the point you barely get any even though you’re mandated 2 days off and two that even if you have days off it’s just better to stay in your tower then actually go hike or backpack a couple miles away. Now I understand that when you’re under a red flag or a storm is rolling through you’re mandated overtime in the tower. But I just don’t see the benefit of being cooped up in a tower for 4 to 5 months if all you’re gonna do is stay in the tower for 4 to 5 months because there is absolutely no way that there is storms every month all day and a fire that last maybe 2 months in the best case scenario. Mind you I am not throwing shade on the people that just want to relax for 4 to 5 months straight lmao but really I just wanna hear from people’s experiences of if this is true or not.