Nearly 100-year-old lookout tower destroyed in California's Line Fire-InfoExpress
A nearly 100-year-old fire lookout tower was destroyed last week as the Line Fire blazed through Southern California.
Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC reported that the Keller Peak fire lookout tower was destroyed last week.
"There aren't a lot of fire towers left in the country compared to what they used to be. It's always sad when we lose one," Shane Harris, Fire Lookout Manager for the Southern California Mountains Foundation told the station.
The foundation has managed the seven lookout towers for 30 years on behalf of the San Bernadino National Forest, according to the Mountain News. The tower was built in 1926, according to the foundation.
"It's also one of the few examples of a tower that was built in California before the Great Depression," Harris told KABC. "We were making preparations for her 100th anniversary in a couple years, so sadly she didn't make that."
Fire lookout tower could be rebuilt
Harris told KABC that the lookout towers still had a role to play in fire management and that rebuilding at Keller Peak is a decision for the U.S. Forest Service.
"(Technology) has still got a long way to go before it will beat a trained human with a good pair of eyes and pair of binoculars who knows what they're looking at for certain," Harris said.
The Forest Service nor the foundation responded to a request for comment Wednesday evening.
Line Fire: See latest
The Line Fire is 50% contained as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Cal Fire.
The blaze has been burning for nearly two weeks and has charred 39,181 acres in the mountains east of San Bernardino.
Justin Wayne Halstenberg, 34, pled not guilty to 11 arson charges Tuesday, according to court documents.
