Tahquitz Peak Fire Lookout plays important role in fire detection

“You have to bring your own water up there,” said Charles Phelan. “It is a valuable service that towers are still staffed. I know we have caught stuff that could have gotten out of control had we not spotted it.”

Phelan has been a volunteer at the Tahquitz Peak Fire Lookout for six years. He and his wife moved up to the mountain in 2014. He loves hiking and started hiking the trails in the area. He knew the tower was there but had no idea it was all volunteer.

“I met a volunteer on Devil’s Slide Trail one day as he was coming down from the lookout tower,” Phelan said. “He had been up there a couple of nights. That was in 2015. I went through training to be a volunteer in 2016.”

“Some people make assumptions that the towers do not exist anymore,” Phelan began when he spoke about why the towers are important. “They think it is all drones and cameras. Some locally thought the towers were staffed 24 hours a day 365 days a year.”

According to Phelan, the towers are not staffed in the winter because the hike up would be tough in the snow.

The view from the Tahquitz Peak Fire Lookout is almost 360 degrees but larger peaks block the view to the north. The lookout is at 8,846 feet.

This photo was taken from the Tahquitz Peak Fire Lookout at 2:18 p.m. Sunday, July 11, 11 minutes after the structure fire on West Ridge Road was called in by a trainee at the lookout.
PHOTO BY CHARLES PHELAN

“Having trained eyes to call in a fire at a quarter acre before it becomes 150 acres and becomes large — that 10 to 15 minutes can make a huge difference,” said Phelan. “We also want to know what the wind is doing. That can impact what response is needed. The best thing to hear is resources being canceled. The first crew on scene can be ground or air attack. They report then make a recommendation to keep resources coming or to cancel.”

This photo was taken from the Tahquitz Peak Fire Lookout at 2:32 p.m. Sunday July, 11 of the structure fire on West Ridge Road.
PHOTO BY CHARLES PHELAN

Phelan explained what happened June 2 with the Control Fire (not to be confused with a controlled burn).

“We had just opened the tower the previous Sunday, May 30. Colin Smith was up there. What I heard is he was hiking down to get water.” He got back to the tower and heard the traffic for the Coyote Fire. That’s when he scanned over and saw the smoke plume near the art school and went back into service.

“I couldn’t see the base of the fire but saw that it was burning up hill toward the town,” Smith told the newspaper. There was a quick response. “They diverted a tanker from the Coyote Fire and did a drop on the Control Fire with fire retardant. There were a couple of drops on the Control Fire.”

So, what is the current coverage of the lookout tower?

“Coverage is always a challenge with Tahquitz because of the seven towers; it is in the most remote wilderness,” Phelan explained. “No helicopter or vehicles. No power. No water. No heat. No bathroom. Everything you need, you have to bring up and you have to carry your own stuff. Every year, people come and go. We lost some people to moving off the mountain and we couldn’t have a training last year. I know we do have at least three volunteers being added to the schedule but getting to 100% coverage is almost impossible. Getting two people up there at a time is difficult. We like to have two volunteers, so one can monitor, and one can talk to the public.

Phelan mentioned it was a “strange year last year because there were no visitors. The lookout tower is like a museum.”

“Get in touch with Southern California Mountains Foundation if you want to get into this,” Phelan said. “In October of 1998, that organization got the towers back online. Several hundred people are involved in the seven towers — 30 to 40 people per tower to do it right. I am not sure on current number of volunteers.”

What training is required? “It changed last year due to COVID,” Phelan began. “Normally training happens in April at several locations, including the U.S. Forest Service’s Keenwild Station on Highway 243. There are two Saturdays of classroom training. The name of the volunteer job is fire lookout host. It is lookout, but we also host visitors.”

Volunteers are trained to know what smoke looks like and how to differentiate it from dust devils, waterdogs, etc. They learn about the forest and “Leave No Trace,” how to host people in the tower and about fire behavior. Also included is in-class training about equipment and how to use the anemometer, the radio to communicate with the San Bernardino National Forest dispatch and the Osborne Fire Finder to sight smoke and determine location.

All seven towers in the forest are different so the on-site training includes In Tower Training for a full day, which is two full shifts. Once the training is complete, volunteers are signed off to work the tower on their own.

How many fires in the past have been spotted by the lookout tower?

“I do not have any statistics at the moment. It is routine to call in something but most of the time it is nothing or they are already on it. Sometimes, you go three to four shifts with nothing and sometimes you call in three or four in one day. We are listening to San Bernardino National Forest dispatch. I have called in multiple house, some brush or vehicle fires.”

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