Massachusetts and the early days of fire lookouts
1888 - 1930

Part 1

The year is 1888, and for the last few years the southeastern area of Ma. had been having a bad problem with forest fires. A meeting of local municipal officials and experts in the forestry field was called to address the ongoing problem. It was decided that the best solution to the fire problem was a quicker response by firefighters and that could only be done if the fires were reported sooner. This was to be done by a new idea of having a person watching for fires from a high vantage point and then report on where the fires were. Since the local area was devoid of any high locations, it was decided that "fire lookout towers" needed to be built and that these towers should overlook each other in order to get as best a location of the fires as possible. So in the winter of 1888 and spring of 1889 two towers were to be built, one in the town of Duxbury and one in the town of Plymouth. It was a great success, and soon word of these "fire lookout towers" was being told nation wide. As word spread, many government officials came to study and learn how and why this worked so well. The states of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and the federal government all sent representatives to study this new concept, to see if it could be used by each for their own forest land protections as each had vast forest lands and each relied on timber sales for a large part of their economies.

In 1904 Ma. Appointed it's first state forester to help protect the states vast forests and the people who lived in and enjoyed them. It was decided that the long standing success of the earlier fire towers in Plymouth and Duxbury should be spread across the entire state. So in 1909 construction began on the states new fire detection lookout grid so that the first fire detection stations would be ready for the fire season of 1910. Set up as spokes of a wheel, with each being fitted with binoculars, maps and a local man who knew his assigned area and a telephone to report each fire promptly.

In 1908 the state established Chapter 209 of the states general laws, this was the open burning laws and burning season. These laws were enacted in order to control the ever increasing number of human caused forest fires.

In these early days of fire detection . a conclusion was reached that Fire towers needed to be no more than 20 miles apart from each other and that each tower would be as a spoke on a wheel but also be it's own hub . This was so every part of the state would be seen by at least 2 towers if not more, making triangulation of the fires location much easier, thus increasing response time by firefighters to the fires and decreasing their size.

In 1911 a position of state fire warden was created along with up to 15 deputy state fire wardens. Also at the beginning of 1911 there were already 8 permanent state run fire watch lookout stations in operation. It was decided that each station would be called by the name of the town that it was in. These first lookout stations were in, Plymouth atop Billington hill, Princeton atop Mt. Wachusett, Shelburne atop Mt. Massaemet, Milton atop Great Blue hill, Chelmsford atop Robbin hill, Westboro atop Fat Mtn., Holyoke atop Mt. Holyoke and in Adams atop the highest point in Massachusetts, Mt. Greylock. Of course not all of these lookouts were towers, Princeton and Holyoke were in observation rooms atop mtn. hotels, Milton was at the weather observatory, Adams was in a tower adjacent to a mtn. hotel, Shelburne was in a privately owned stone tower and the rest were in Iron towers.

In the year 1913 it was published in the state forestry report that a new concept in better location of fires was devised and that it had been tested in some of the towers in the state and was a great success. And so the use of Triangulation in finding forest fires was born. In the 1913 annual public report # 73 from the state forester it states…. " The triangulation system which was adopted this year has proved very effective in locating fires accurately at a distance of 12 or 15 miles. I feel confident that arrangements will be made the coming year for extending this system into the states of New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut, thus enabling us to get readings from their observation stations bordering on the north and south of this Commonwealth."

Over the next 3 years 22 new fire lookouts were established across Ma. All but one were built of Iron, the single remaining was built of wood. This brought the state total to 26 stations as 4 were discontinued owing to the establishment of better coverage from these new locations. These fire lookout towers were regarded as so important to the local communities that every surrounding town donated monies towards the construction of them.

In 1914 the state foresters annual report stated, " Owing to the large number of people visiting our observation stations it has been found advisable, from an educational standpoint, to provide better means for reaching the observation rooms, so that they may be made accessible to women and elderly people" AND "We have equipped all of our towers purchased this year with either spiral or fire escape stairs, with 2 landings before reaching the top. From reports received from our observers it is surprising to note that we have had nearly 3,000 people visit our towers this past season, representing nearly every state in the union and many foreign countries."

In 1915 the states of New York, Vermont , Connecticut and New Hampshire were approached by Massachusetts with a proposal to jointly fund the construction and operation of 4 lookout towers along their joint borders. The first station being built in the town of Williamstown, MA. on Berlin mtn. funded by the states of NY, VT and Ma.. The 2nd being built in the town of Lenox, Ma. on Lenox mtn. funded by the states of NY and MA. and the 3rd built in the town of Mount Washington, MA. on Mt. Everett funded by the states of NY, CT and MA. And the 4th was on Mt. Watatic in the town of Ashby and funded by the states of MA and NH. This arrangement between the 4 states continued until 1923.

Due to a conflict between the states this joint effort was discontinued at the end of 1923 and The tower in Williamstown was removed and replaced with a new one in the town of Hancock atop Brodie Mtn. this location was very much needed due to the prior discontinuance of the Adams location and the need for another location able to triangulate with the tower atop Savoy Mtn in Savoy, MA. Also due to the discontinued joint funding between the states, the state of NY entered into an agreement with a private land owner in the town of Mt. Washington, MA. To place a new tower for themselves atop Alander Mtn. , this NY state owned tower was wholly inside the state of MA. And about 2 air miles due west of the still in use Mt. Everett tower and 363 feet lower in elevation. Alander Mtn. is somewhat unique as it 's tower was removed in 1935 and moved into NY state, but the fire watchers cabin still remains to this day.

In 1919 the state foresters annual report stated "The roads leading to many of our observation stations have been improved, so it is now possible to drive by automobile to them. This has increased the number of visitors, so that over 13,000 pleasure seekers have visited them."

By 1925 there had been 61 fire lookout towers built across Massachusetts. Of that number only 44 were in operation due to older lower sites being replaced by better ones and by the beginning of the 1930 fire season another 9 fire towers had been added to the states fire detection network, bring the total up to 53 operational stations.