This historic fire tower sits near the state headquarters of the Florida Department of Agriculture not too far from downtown. Historically, towers similar to this one were used all over the state as an early warning system for wildfires. Now with technology such as satellites, GPS devices and cell phones, as well as continuing development, the observation towers are no longer needed to spot wildfires. The state has been selling off many of the towers to private individuals, but some state, county and privately owned towers still stand.
Linking to Through My Lens.
Even though I posted this on Monday, I'm also still linking it to Tuesday's Treasures.
29 comments:
do you take a photo on the top of this tower ?
Excelente trabalho e belas fotografias.
Um abraço e boa semana.
The view from up there is probably a good one.
Must be raher scary to climb those steps, I have fear of heights....
My eldest daughter worked for the Division of Forestry for awhile so I learned a bit about the towers years back...the one I like still standing is on Highway 40 heading toward the east coast. I like the way you stacked the shots so we get the whole thing in the end! Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!
Hello, great shots of the tower. I can only imagine how my legs would feel after climbing to the top. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!
this is possibly the tallest one i have ever seen and i am thinking that the person who manned this tower would be to out of breathe to call for help if he/she spotted a fire. i love the way you slowly showed us the height of this amazing old tower.
Climbing a fire tower used to be the thing to do when I was young!
Have a great week!
Lea
Can you imagine climbing up those stairs a couple of times a day?
You wouldn't want to be climbing up and down that too often!
That's really interesting. We still use our towers out in the Black Hills, but if they went up for sale I think I might want to buy one just so I could take pictures from it. :-D
Lisa @ Life Thru the Lens (www.lisakerner-slp.com)
It's still a great view from up there!
It's huge! I would never have guessed what it was!
I really like your shots, Lois!
I'm with b on this one. Even I'm thinking that's a pretty sketchy looking set of stairs. :-)
i'd be such a scaredy cat climbing to the top!
There is one just like this in Bernheim Forest just down the road from me. I climbed it many times when I was younger.
Interesting!! No park ranger with binoculars. I wonder what private individuals are doing with those towers. Selling them for scrap or using them. They'd be great for a windmill fan.
I stayed in a fire tower one summer in the mountains of Oregon---it was great---saw no fires though.
MB
Makes you wonder what a private individual would use/do with a tower like this Lois. My knee is aching just thinking about climbing it :)
In the Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York State there were a number of fire towers when I was a kid. Today a few have been restored, but no longer used. Thanks Lois for sharing this treasure from the past. I hope that you will return again.
There are a few still in use in Oregon; maybe poor satellite signal or something. -- and then there are also some decommissioned ones that the State rents out for summer cabins (sort of). People like the remoteness and the idea of being unreachable.
Great historical structure. There are still a few standing close to where our son lives in Eastern Washington.
Oh my head is spinning just thinking about climbing all that way up! Great find!
Oh, that's a tall one! There are some around here in the national forest that you can climb.
I would never have thought that these towers would ever be out-of-date. Interesting.
Great piece of history. Thanks for sharing the background on the Florida fire towers.
Very cool! Probably saved a lot of lives and property over the years!
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