Indiana's Fire Towers

Indiana's Fire Towers. . This fire tower was part of a network of towers that once protected Indiana. , , In 1930, Indiana began constructing a series of fire towers with the goal of having no visibility gap. By 1952, Indiana had 33 towers, most of them in the southern half of the state. , , Tools of the Trade , Fire towers were generally equipped with: , Communication equipment (radio and telephone) , Psychrometer to measure humidity and determine fire danger , Alidade to determine the exact location of a fire. , , Osborne Fire Finder: pinpointing a fire , An alidade, sometimes referred to as an Osborne Fire Finder, consisted of an oriented topographic map on a circular disk. Moveable sighting apertures were opposite each other on the disk. The fire lookout lined the apertures on a plume of smoke and determined the line on which the fire was located. Another fire tower lookout did the same process. The fire was located where their two lines crossed. , , Fire Lookouts , Many Indiana lookouts were local farmers, recruited when the fire danger was high. Sometimes a wife or other family member would serve as lookout. Lookout duties included: watching for smoke, locating and reporting suspicious smoke plumes, taking weather readings, communicating with fire crews during a fire, recording fires, keeping the area around the tower mowed and keeping the outhouse clean. , , Lookouts had to pass a vision test and be able to climb the tower several times. During world war two, many of Indiana’s lookouts were women. , , By the 1970s, planes replaced fire towers as the means of locating fires. Today, fires are reported by local residents. , , This fire tower stands as a sentinel, reminding us of the time when Indiana was protected by a series of towers staffed by dedicated lookouts.