Grants Repair Cal Fire Lookout Towers Ahead Of Busy Fire Season
GRASS VALLEY (CBS13) — An old-fashioned firefighting tool is making a comeback as lookout towers that have been closed for years are reopened ahead of an anticipated busy fire season.
When it comes to stopping the spread of a devastating wildfire, time is everything.
"It's definitely becoming a very difficult year," said Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff. "We are not even into the hottest, driest months of the year."
California's four-year drought has Cal Fire looking to the sky to help them spot fires on the ground.
"We have a 360-degree view, so we can see down into the valley, we can see out further into the Sierra Nevada..so we've got quite a good vantage point," she said.
The lookout towers, including one at Wolf Mountain in Grass Valley, will now reopen. They need volunteers to keep watch. Persistent vandalism forced Cal Fire to shutter the towers for the past two fire seasons.
"They would come up here and just be destructive. destroying things, spray painting things, busting out the glass on this whole tower," she said.
Thanks to a grant, cal Fire has been able to beef up security around the lookout points. Tolmachoff says it took $27,000 to fix up, but the payoff is priceless.
"When you've got somebody physically looking at a fire," she said. "It's definitely more accurate."
Those who want to volunteer can email sean.griffis@fire.ca.gov.
