Lake County >> After 12 years of closure due primarily to high costs, as well as the proliferation of cellphones, CalFire, in concert with the Forest Fire Lookout Association, is supporting an all-volunteer effort to staff the 45-foot lookout tower on the highest peak of Mount Konocti.
“So once again, each morning the radio call goes out, ‘St. Helena … Mount Konocti Lookout … In service,’” volunteer Chuck Sturges said.
Volunteers have already sighted three fires in as many weeks of the tower’s renewed operation.
“They have three reports that have really made a difference, especially that last one in Indian Valley Reservoir — really gave us a jump on that fire,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Greg Bertelli told the Middletown Mercury. “We kept it to 215 acres.”
With a magnetic “Konocti Smoke Watch Unit” sign attached to their personal high-clearance vehicle, volunteers drive through a locked gate then 3 miles up the dirt road which extends from just passed Mountain Vista Middle School in Kelseyville to the top of Mount Konocti.
The summit itself has become part of a Lake County park which normally requires a fairly steep 3-mile hike to the top from the locked gate that is near a rudimentary parking area.
Lookout volunteers choose days for eight-hour shifts in the tower from an online schedule. At least one per month is required. If an individual wants to participate in this program, the next training session for new volunteers is July 30, 9 a.m. at the Kelseyville Fire Protection District (KFPD) station, located at 4020 Main St.
Retired Cal Fire Lookout Randall Grindle will lead the session. Before its closure, Grindle was a lookout at Mount Konocti for 25 years.
The Forest Fire Lookout Association approached Cal Fire about staffing the lookout post with volunteers last August after the Rocky Fire.
Ironically, the first training session Grindle held took place the day the Valley Fire broke out.
He’s had two other sessions since then where he teaches observation information including how to use an Osborne Fire Finder. The device is used to figure out the direction and location of smoke seen from the tower.
For further information call Chris Rivera at (707) 279-2363 or email Grindle at fire.eagle.lookout@gmail.com.
