Fire Lookout

A fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a Fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.

Once a possible fire is spotted, so-called "Smoke Reports", or "Lookout Shots" are relayed to the local Emergency Communications Center (ECC), often by radio or phone. A Fire Lookout can use a device known as an Osborne Fire Finder to obtain the radial in degrees off the tower, and the estimated distance from the tower to the fire.

As part of the Lookout's duties, they must also take weather readings and report the findings to the Emergency Communications Center throughout the day. Often several lookouts will overlap in coverage areas and each will “shoot” the same smoke, then the ECC will use triangulation from the radials reported to achieve a very accurate location of the fire.

List of UK Public Fire and Rescue Services

England

Avon Fire and Rescue Service Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Cleveland Fire Brigade Cornwall County Fire Brigade County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service Dorset Fire and Rescue Service East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service Humberside Fire and Rescue Service Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service

Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service Kent Fire and Rescue Service Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue Service London Fire Brigade Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Norfolk Fire & Rescue Service Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service Surrey Fire and Rescue Service Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service West Midlands Fire Service West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

By Wikipedia