Ceremony Planned At First Lookout

A high point in forest history will be observed next weekend.

The Bertha Hill fire lookout, 10 miles north of Headquarters, Idaho, is the site of the first forest fire lookout in the United States.

The site of the original lookout plus the existing steel tower structure, will be dedicated into the National Historic Lookout Register during the Forest Fire Lookout Association’s regional conference on Friday and Saturday. The conference will be held at the Clearwater National Forest headquarters in Orofino.

The first lookout was perched in a tree near Bertha Hill’s 5,520-foot summit in 1902, said Ray Kresek, lookout historian in Spokane.

The unique all-steel tower that currently stands on Bertha Hill was built in 1958, the eighth lookout erected on the site.

Bertha Hill lookouts have been staffed from 1902 to 1995, the longest continuous staffing of a lookout site in North America, Kresek said. For the past two years, the lookout has been used only periodically during significant lightning events.

While most lookouts in this region were built by the U.S. Forest Service, the Bertha Hill lookout was funded by private timber companies. The official name of the current structure is the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Lookout.

Two lookout workers have died while on duty at Bertha Hill, Kresek said. One was killed by lightning. The other died in a fall from the tower.

The Fire Lookout Association is sponsoring a guided tour to Bertha Hill on Sunday. The bus will leave Clearwater National Forest headquarters in Orofino at 8:30 a.m. The lookout is accessible by road.

For information on the tour or the conference, contact Gary Weber, HCR 5, Box 206-I, Priest River, Idaho 83856, or telephone Ray Kresek in Spokane, (509) 466-9171.

, DataTimes