In late April 1910, a forest fire broke out in the Blackfeet National Forest in northwestern Montana. While firefighting crews from the U.S. Forest Service, then only five years old, battled to contain the blaze, no one could predict the fires still to come that summer would shape the agency’s fire prevention and suppression policy for decades to come. By the time the last fire was stomped out, more than five million acres of private and federal land had burned across the country, including three million acres in Idaho, Montana and Washington.

Following the devastating fires of 1910, the USFS began to focus on early fire detection with the increased production of fire lookouts scattered throughout our national forests. While the first known fire lookout in the U.S. was built near Donner Summit, Calif., 35 years earlier, it wasn’t until after 1910 that the USFS made them a priority.

Roughly a mile northeast of Sisters, the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Henkle Butte Fire Lookout sits on a small butte in the middle of expensive homes. Its current blue, three-story, enclosed cab state was built in 1961, replacing the traditional, 1940s-built, 40-foot pole, live-in tower. This is a major improvement on the original log cabins built on ridge tops throughout the West.

The approximately 200 square feet of indoor space is surrounded by a 4-foot deep wood deck with steps leading up and down. It is equipped with electricity to power the lights, stove, heater, and forest service dispatch radio. A “firefinder,” or the instrument used to accurately pinpoint the geographic location of forest fires, sits in the center of the room to aid in the duties of the lookout’s most important feature, the fire watcher.

For the last 18 years, Cloverdale resident Tony Lompa has manned the tower mid-June through October, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. His days are stretched longer with the threat of lightning strikes.

“My life has been dictated by weather for so long, I barely think about it anymore,” explained Lompa. “I’m always listening to see what’s going on.”

From his perch at an elevation of 3,412 feet, Lompa is able to see 45 miles toward Lava Butte, 30 miles to Santiam Pass, 30 miles toward Lake Billy Chinook, and 25 miles to the Three Sisters mountain range.

Lompa stumbled upon his current position through luck and happenstance. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Calif., Lompa settled in Sisters after his car broke down in 1975. In 1981, he joined the forest service. With only six months on the job, he was put in charge of a ground fire crew simply because he was the oldest on the crew. However, after 15 hard years of running fire crews and engines, his body began to break down, with aching knees and hips. Serendipitously, a fire watcher at Henkle Butte retired and the forest service asked if Lompa wanted to take over.

“I was in the truck for 15 years,” explained Lompa. “I knew the area very well. Obviously, a knowledgeable lookout makes it much easier for the crews.”

The process of spotting fires begins with simply paying attention and then draws upon a knowledge of the area and forest service procedures. As soon as a fire has been spotted, the local watchers call the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center in Prineville. They handle the Bureau of Land Management, USFS and the Oregon Department of Forestry lands. In an effort to narrow down an exact location of the fire, Lompa will contact the fire watcher sting in the Black Butte Fire Lookout.

By coordinating with another fire watcher, Lompa can narrow down the fire’s location, thus allowing the firefighters to begin work quicker.

The dispatch then assigns a fire engine to the scene and notifies any applicable rural fire departments.

Once the fire watcher has initiated the fire suppression process, they are responsible for keeping in touch with the fire engines and direct them to the scene. Because they have the best view of the location, they are able to offer specifics on the directions to the blaze as well as the fire’s characteristics and behavior.

Since 1996, Lompa has used his knowledge to spot many white plums of smoke, including the beginnings of 2003’s B&B Fire and 2006’s Black Crater Fire. Both fires caused residential evacuations and major damage to the Sisters area.

During the down time, which accounts for most of his day, Lompa listens to music, plays his ukulele, and weaves pine needle baskets for friends. He is as content to hang out with his two dogs as he is willing to greet new visitors.

According to ODF retiree Alan Maul, who runs the Forest History Center in Salem, Oregon’s first lookout tower was built by the Forest Service atop Coffin Mountain, 10 miles southeast of Detroit. The last one to be renovated was the Mount Sexton Fire Lookout near Grants Pass.

During their heyday, 852 fire lookouts adorned the forests of Oregon. However, since the 1960s, many have become forsaken as technology, such as infrared cameras and satellites, slowly takes over. Only 207 lookouts remain in Oregon, with just 106 used for fire detection. Some, including Peacock Fire Lookout in Clackamas County, are used as way stations, while others are available to rent for recreation and overnight stays.

Many traditionalists argue technology could never take the place of a good pair of eyes, while others wait for the inevitable. Lompa sees this as just a switch from many eyes in lookouts to one pair of eyes in a room staring at computer screens.

“If they do become obsolete, we are far off,” offered Maul. “There are too many times, during emergencies, when its good to have eyes out there.”

Until then, fire watchers, such as Lompa, will be high on a mountain, protecting the forests and the people who live near them.