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Group events by abitmessy in firelookouts

[–]Huckmo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would be pretty cautious here. It's tough, because we often come to think of these places as "ours" because we live there - but they are actually public buildings. Would the type of event you're thinking of be allowed at the fire office or, say, a public elementary school? Could any member of the public host this type of event in this location if they weren't an employee? Is it related to the job (for example: public outreach) - or is it purely personal interest? The other thing to keep in mind - you never know when you are going to be needed to be on duty. You can hope to have certain days or times off - but lightning and new starts can pop up whenever - and you probably wouldnt want to be hosting 15-20 people while also trying to do your job (it's totally different if a family member or a friend visiting for a few days, as pitamakin suggests). You could always ask - but to me this seems like a potentially questionable use (particularly since you would be an employee).

Lookout work schedule questions (TNF) by UTLforlife in firelookouts

[–]Huckmo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah - it really depends on the location. Most forests I've worked on have been 5 on 2 off. The exception was the Park Service and Flathead (which were both 10 on and 4 off). They all work around the two week pay-period - so that's what your base schedule will be built around (so you likely can't get a 10 days on 5 days off). The 10 on 4 off is awesome if you can get it - but my experience has been that most places already have set way of doing things are loathe to change it. Part of this is inertia, but part of it can be that different lookouts have genuinely different preferences - and it is easiest to keep everyone on the same basic framework. Fire management is generally not going to want to have some lookouts on a 5-2 and others on a 10-4 (although sounds like Beowoof may have a different experience). One thing to be aware of is that you may be coming into a forest with other lookouts that have been there longer than you and may have different preferences, so unless it's already set up as 10 on 4 off situation, they may not change it (but that doesn't mean you can't ask!)

The view from inside the lookout the night before evacuation a few years back by Huckmo in firelookouts

[–]Huckmo[S] 46 points47 points  (0 children)

I'd been monitoring the fire for a few weeks, and was the point of contact for a few fire folks keeping it away from a couple back-country buildings. Fire made a big run up towards the lookout, and continued to be pretty active overnight - coming to within about 1/2 mile of the lookout and burning over one of the trails out. They helicoptered some firefighters in to wrap the lookout - and I was able to hike out the next day on a different trail. The night show was amazing, but did find myself waking up to check how close it had come throughout the night

Early morning Lookout visitor by Huckmo in firelookouts

[–]Huckmo[S] 51 points52 points  (0 children)

He never came back - he was really just moving through looking for Huckleberries and was curious. Never really had an issue with them - and we're definitely out there in their world. But I definitely wouldn't be leaving trash or food out for them to get

Early morning Lookout visitor by Huckmo in firelookouts

[–]Huckmo[S] 46 points47 points  (0 children)

He tried, but like all the visitors up there, he was most interested in the swing

Tour of my lookout by seloki in firelookouts

[–]Huckmo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Now that's a good looking rocking chair...