Stuart Griffin is manning the Danskin Fire Lookout this summer, it’s his first time as a lookout as he has a 360-degree view from this historical lookout at 6,800 feet.
“Living up here is really interesting,” said Griffin. “I really enjoy it.”
The Boise National Forest features almost ten staffed fire lookouts to provide them with eyes on top of mountains throughout the national forest.
The Danskin Fire Lookout was built in 1941 as these historic structures still play a pivotal role in fighting fire. Stuart Griffin uses an alidade to determine the location of a potential fire if he sees smoke. The alidade dates back to 1911.
The alidade is basically a topographical map arranged in a circle providing a birds eye view with lookout tower in the middle. If Stuart sees smoke he will try to pinpoint a location on the map.
“We find our locations based on it’s called a township, a range, and a section it ends up being one of these little bitty squares and one of these little bitty squares within the square, “said Griffin. “The ring rotates around and you look through this little peephole and line up the little crosshairs made of string.”