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This man has spent 48 years as a fire lookout

Above it all, one man has spent almost 5 decades as a fire lookout

By: Emily Brown

Posted at 6:39 PM, Aug 01, 2023

and last updated 2023-08-01 20:50:42-04

MISSOULA — Fire lookout towers dot the western U.S. While it's a fun summer adventure to spend a night in one here in Montana, the towers are a big responsibility during fire season, especially for one man who's spent way more time than just a night in lookouts.

John Crawford, who currently lives in Lolo, has spent his past 48 summers as a fire lookout in Idaho.

Young John Crawford — John during his first lookout season.

Crawford begins his book, 'Above it All', which details his adventures, by paraphrasing Henry David Thoreau; "I went to the mountaintop because I wished to live deliberately". He chose journal entries from 1974, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2020, and 2022 to fill the following pages.

“Through my descriptions, I put the reader right up there with me at the lookout," he stated.

MTN's Emily Brown got the chance to meet Crawford and hear some of his stories from Indian Hill and Sundance lookouts firsthand.

“The first thing I do, I just stand out on the catwalk after no one around and I’ll yell out to the wilderness: ‘I am free,'" Crawford said followed by a laugh.

“I average about 18 fires a year and so times uh how many years I’ve been a lookout that’s over 600 fires.”

1974 was Crawford’s first year on a lookout. Coming with him that first summer and every summer until 1993 was his partner Judy.

Judy Crawford — Judy on clothes washing day at Indian Hill in the 70s.

“Everything was brand new. It was kind of learn by the seat of your pants,” he explained.

As he adjusted to the day to day of lookout life, he said living slowed down. On page 27 of his book he wrote,

Our days were becoming more attuned with nature as our lookout season wore on... keeping track of the elk and deer residents, the eagles, hawks ravens, and turkey buzzards that soared above the ridge, the incredible sunrises over Montana and the equally beautiful sunsets over Oregon! Every day I kept up my mission to learn the country before me."

John Crawford, Above it All

Crawford told MTN, “It’s just your whole life is centered around that 12 by 12 lookout and a little bit of catwalk."

Lookout breakfast — Pancakes for breakfast in the lookout.

He’d walk with binoculars around the catwalk, observing and studying the land he’s tasked with watching over.

“You notice something different. That’s how you find fires... you know your country so well.” Crawford knew the names of each of the peaks and how each drainage normally looked at different times of the day.

Osborne fire finder — The fire finder Crawford would use to pinpoint fires.

Not only would fires break the calmness of being in nature, but also storms.

Crawford excitedly said, “When you’re on a mountaintop, you’re exposed to these storms and the lightning that’s gonna hit you and it does hit the tower. I’ve been hit at least twice a summer and it is hair raising literally.”

During a lightning storm, Crawford would have to stand or sit on a lightning stool with glass insulators. A copper wire on the outer walls of the lookout would ground the lighting after it hit the tower.

“If you’re not on a lightning stool you’ll get a bad shock but you won’t get electrocuted. Now, if you’re outside the lightning net, if you’re on the catwalk, and you got struck, you’d be fried.”

Lookout lightning — Lightning makes contact with a nearby ridge.

Year after year, Crawford is eager to return to his lookouts.

“I feel a reunion with the mountain top. It just seems that lookout actually becomes an old friend. And when I go up there it’s like I’m seeing an old friend again.”

Not only is his reunion with the lookout tower itself but also with the Canadian gray jays he can call to eat from his hand and mountains he has come to love.