Head In The Clouds

Western Maryland was once home to many forest fire towers that were constructed by the State Department of Forestry, now known as the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Forest Service. These towers were strategically positioned on mountain peaks for the specific purpose of detecting forest fires while they were still small and could be extinguished with a minimum of personnel and equipment.

Early in this century, forest fires in Western Maryland were considered an epidemic by many citizens. It was not entirely unheard of for a person to set a fire just to relieve boredom, although most fires were attributed to land clearing, burning of bush and railroad operations. Occasionally, arsonists would become active as well. This proliferation of fires and resulting damage to natural resources prompted the state legislature to enact forest fire abatement laws that were to be enforced by forest wardens commissioned by the State Department of Forestry. These laws gave wardens the authority to enter private property, tear down fences, plow furrows, set backfires and to order the use of personal property for the purpose of extinguishing a forest fire. These laws are still enforced today.

It became evident that a method to detect fires quickly, would be indispensable. Hence, a statewide network of fire towers was installed. The view from one tower overlapped with at least one other tower. This enabled the lookout to utilize alidade, a compass-like device, to sight a bearing on the fire and another tower lookout to do the same. The intersection of the two bearings on a map indicated a fire location. With his intimate knowledge of the area, a tower operator could often simply tell a forest warden exactly where the fire was and its apparent intensity. The towers were normally equipped with telephones and later radios which provided for prompt communication with forestry units.

Fire towers in Allegany County were located at Dan’s Mountain, Warrior Mountain, and Town Hill. In Garrett County there were towers at Roth Rock, Elder Hill, High Rock, and on Meadow Mountain. Most of these towers still exist but are no longer manned and have been modified to serve as DNR radio antennas.

Due to the reduced incidence of forest fires and modern firefighting forces, fire towers are no longer economical, but the Maryland Department of Natural Resources still employ full-time forest wardens or rangers that respond to an average of 100 forest fires annually in Western Maryland. A significant number of these fires occur in October and November after the leaves have fallen from the trees. This is because the leaf litter on the forest floor is fully exposed to the drying effects of the sun and wind and becomes conductive to the start and spread of fire.

Please do your part in using fire carefully outdoors. For further information, contact the Maryland DNR’s Green Ridge Fire Center at (301) 478-2976.

Richard Lillard is the Regional Fire Manager for the Maryland DNR Forest Service.

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