[TICKING].
[ALARM BELL].
[FIREWORKS].
♪ ♪
CHARLIE: WHAT’S UP GUYS, I’M CHARLIE, PAT’S OVER HERE,
KIRBY’S ON CAMERA AND TODAY WE’RE IN WESTERN MONTANA
IN BITTERROOT NATIONAL FOREST AND
WE’RE HERE TO CHECK OUT THIS GUY, THE MCCART FIRE TOWER.
YO, CHECK IT OUT, HERE’S A FIRE TOWER THAT WE STAYED IN,
PRETTY LEGIT RIGHT?
THIS THING IS AWESOME, BUT WAIT, BACK UP A MINUTE.
WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF BITTERROOT NATIONAL FOREST,
AND THIS IS THE ONLY BUILDING FOR MILES AND MILES,
BUT IT’S A VERY IMPORTANT BUILDING
OR I MEAN AT LEAST IT WAS AT ONE TIME.
BACK IN THE DAY, ABOUT 100 YEARS AGO,
THE FATE OF THE ENTIRE FOREST LAID IN THE HANDS
OF THE MAN OR WOMAN THAT WAS STAYING IN THIS TINY LITTLE HUT,
BECAUSE THIS THING, RIGHT HERE, IS A FIRE TOWER.
BACK IN 1900, THE PEOPLE MANAGING FORESTS IN THE
U.S. HAD AN ENORMOUS PROBLEM,
THERE WERE FOREST FIRES ALL OVER THE PLACE,
AND THEY WERE NEVER ABLE TO STOP THEM BEFORE
MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OCCURRED.
SO, THEY STARTED COMING UP WITH POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS.
SON OF A GUN!
PATRICK!
PATRICK: YES, SIR!
CHARLIE: I’LL PAY YOU 60 CENTS TO SIT AT THE TOP OF THAT REALLY
TALL TREE AND LOOK FOR FIRES ALL DAY.
PATRICK: 60 CENTS?
CHARLIE: YES.
PATRICK: EVERYDAY?
CHARLIE: YES.
PATRICK: I’M ON IT.
CHARLIE: BOOM, SO THAT’S HOW THE EARLIEST
FIRE LOOKOUTS STARTED.
PEOPLE WERE HIRED TO SIT AT SUPER HIGH POINTS,
WITH UNOBSTRUCTED VIEWS IN THE MIDDLE OF FORESTS,
DOING NOTHING BUT LOOKING FOR FIRES, ALL DAY.
THESE FIRE WATCHERS PROVED TO BE PRETTY EFFECTIVE.
THEY WERE ABLE TO SPOT SMOKE FROM FIRES,
AND PIN POINT A FIRE’S LOCATION QUICKER
THAN ANYONE HAD BEFORE.
SO THE FIRES COULD BE PUT OUT BEFORE ANY
MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OCCURRED.
BUT DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY WERE SO EFFECTIVE,
THEY WEREN’T REALLY USED THAT MUCH THAT WAS UNTIL 1910,
WHEN CHAOS ABSOLUTELY RIPPED THROUGH THE NORTHWEST
OF THE UNITED STATES.
IT WAS CALLED THE “BIG BLOW UP”
OR THE “BIG BURN” BUT MOST CALL IT THE
“GREAT FIRE OF 1910.”
THIS EVENT WAS ABSOLUTELY NUTS.
A SMALL FIRE THAT BROKE OUT IN MONTANA SPREAD LIKE CRAZY,
SUPER CRAZY, 3 MILLION ACRES WERE BURNED ACROSS IDAHO,
MONTANA AND WASHINGTON.
3 MILLION, IN 2 DAYS, 87 PEOPLE DIED.
SEVERAL TOWNS WERE BURNED ENTIRELY TO A CRISP,
LIKE A TORCHED MARSHMALLOW, GONE.
AFTER THE GREAT FIRE,
THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE GAINED A HEAP TON OF SUPPORT,
AND THEIR PRIORITY NOW WAS FIGHTING FOREST FIRES,
AND THEIR METHOD?
FIRE TOWERS.
AROUND 1911, PEOPLE STARTED REALIZING THAT THESE
FIRE WATCHERS WERE DOING A PRETTY GOOD JOB.
SO, THEY SWEETENED THE DEAL A LITTLE AND
MADE THEM SWANKY CABINS TO WATCH FROM, LIKE THIS ONE.
THE BASIC OUTLINE FOR THESE LOOKOUTS WAS SUMMED UP
PRETTY WELL BY A SUPER OLD GUY, NAMED COERT DUBOIS,
IN HIS PAGE TURNER,
“SYSTEMATIC FIRE PROTECTION IN THE CALIFORNIA FORESTS.”
KIRBY: “THE LOOKOUT MAN’S DWELLING, OFFICE, AND WORKROOM,
SHOULD BE CENTERED IN ONE HOUSE, ON ONE FLOOR,
IN ONE ROOM.
THE ROOM CANNOT BE LESS THAN 12 FEET SQUARE,
AND MUST BE SO CONSTRUCTED THAT AT ANY MOMENT OF THE DAY,
WITH A TURN OF THE HEAD, HE CAN SEE HIS WHOLE FIELD.
HE MUST BE FIXED, SO THAT WHEN HE IS COOKING, EATING,
READING, WRITING, DRESSING, WASHING HIS CLOTHES,
WALKING ABOUT, SITTING DOWN, WORKING OUT, OR SHAVING,
HE CANNOT HELP BUT BE IN THE BEST POSITION TO SEE.”
CHARLIE: SO THESE TINY LITTLE HOUSES WERE
ACTUALLY PRETTY SWEET.
I MEAN THEY HAD 360 DEGREE UNOBSTRUCTED VIEWS
OF THE FOREST, SO YOU COULD SEE FOR MILES.
BUT, REMEMBER THE PEOPLE WHO WERE LIVING HERE HAD TO DO
NOTHING BUT LOOK FOR FOREST FIRES ALL DAY.
WHAT BROUGHT THE WHOLE OPERATION TO THE NEXT
LEVEL WAS THIS, THE OSBORNE FIRE FINDER.
THE OSBORNE FIRE FINDER, CREATED BY ANOTHER
OLD GUY TO ADD TO OUR OLD GUY HALL OF FAME,
WILLIAM BUSHNELL OSBORNE JR.
BUT WE JUST CALL HIM, GOOD OLE BUSH.
OUR BUDDY BUSH DEVELOPED AND PERFECTED THIS WEIRD LITTLE
INSTRUMENT THING THAT HELPS FIRE SPOTTERS PIN POINT
THE EXACT LOCATIONS OF FIRES ON A MAP.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS, YOU SEE A FIRE,
YOU SPIN THE FINDER SO IT’S POINTING TOWARD THE FIRE,
YOU LOOK THROUGH THIS TINY LITTLE HOLE,
YOU LINE EVERYTHING UP, YOU GET A COMPASS READING
FROM THIS LITTLE RING,
MOVE THIS METAL THING TO GET AN ANGLE,
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER TO FIND OUT WHERE THE FIRE IS,
BOOK IT OVER TO THE TELEPHONE, TELL THE GUYS WHAT’S UP.
PATRICK: FIRE!
CHARLIE: SOME OTHER GUYS FIGHT THE FIRE,
YOU SAVE THE FOREST, YOU SAVE THE WHOLE GOSH DARN WORLD.
ALL THANKS TO OUR BUDDY, BUSH OSBORNE.
THANK YOU BUSH.
IN THEIR HEY-DAY, THERE WERE 8,000 FIRE LOOKOUT TOWERS
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.
EVENTUALLY, SATELLITES WERE INVENTED AND THIS WHOLE THING
BECAME A LOT EASIER TO DO.
TODAY THERE ARE 2,000 FIRE LOOKOUT TOWERS ACROSS
THE U.S. AND 400 ARE STILL IN USE,
WHICH REMIND US OF A SIMPLER TIME,
WHEN PEOPLE GOT PAID TO JUST SIT AROUND ALL DAY AND
LOOK AT THE FOREST.
[FIREWORKS]
