11 January 2008

To the Watchtowers

| Jazz
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According to this article on ABC online this afternoon that for the first time this summer the ACT’s Fire Watchtowers have been manned. That would be on account of all the rain the sky falling in November and December and none now, so everything is once again, dry and hot.

I didnt even know that we have watchtowers. Does anyone know if they were around a few years ago ie circa 2003?

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This article\thread would be vastly improved if we can call it (or any others relating to firecrew news or normal behavious this season) as “All Along The Watchtowers”.

Check out my website – has a map and some photos of the towers and RFS brigades.
http://www.southern.conder-act.com/

PS as well as the tower locations mentioned above the airport control tower can be used and there is also one at Mt Stromlo which belongs to ACT Forests but is rarely manned.

Also the towers have been stood up all week.. they didn’t tell you that bit 😉

If you have a scanner you can listen to the towers on 78.425 Mhz. The broadcast weather every half hour or so.

Rawhide Kid No 211:26 am 12 Jan 08

The Towers are at One Tree Hill (behind Hall), Kowen (Kowen Forest), Mt Coree and Mt Tennent. All towers are crewed during Very High Fire danger periods and two to three are crewed throughout the fire season. All Towers have been in operation during the summer months since the early 1990’s The towers are use to spot and Triangulate the fire and locations to within a few hundred meters.

The men of Rohan keep the location of the watchtowers a closely kept secret.

There’s also one on Mt Tennent. They’ll often let you go inside and have a look around from up the top – I think they get a bit bored sometimes 🙂

paperboy, they weren’t out of it for long!!

True. And I believe one of the towers near McIntyres Hut was damaged or destroyed in the 2003 fires. Fair to say no-one was in it at the time.

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