List of fire lookout towers in Louisiana

Louisiana has 13.8 million acres of forestlands covering approximately 48% of the total state area. The majority (62%) is owned by private, non-industrial landowners, forest industries own 29% and 9% are public lands. The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF), Office of Forestry, is tasked with timberland wildfire suppression.[1] and the state maintain eight district headquarters with seventeen divisions and many substations or yards.[2]

History

By Act 113 the Louisiana legislature created the Department of Forestry in 1904. The Department of Conservation was created by Act 144 in 1908. In 1915 funds were directed for fire protection work allowing the hiring of lookout watchmen or patrolmen. In 1917 public education for fire prevention work began. In 1922 the first steel fire tower was built near Bogalusa on Great Southern Lumber Company land. In 1923 the second tower was built near Urania. Prior to these two towers rungs were nailed to a pine tree with a perch erected near the top. By 1943 thirty-nine fire towers had been built and by 1950 the number had increased to fifty-six.[3]

List of fire towers

Many fire towers still exist with the majority being inactive but many are maintained in reserve. Those having coordinates below can be seen together on a map by clicking "Map all coordinates using OpenSourceMap" at the right side of this page.

Name Parish Nearest town or city Coordinates Status Notes
Abita lookout tower[4] St. Tammany Mandeville 30°26′14″N 90°02′45″W Still standing. Unsure if still used, property is owned and actively used by the LA Dept. of Agriculture. Can be seen here on Google Street View.
Aimwell Lookout Tower Catahoula Aimwell (Northeast of Jena) 31°47′48″N 91°58′46″W Torn down? Cannot verify on aerial imagery, removed from USGS maps in 2015. Aimwell Lookout Tower
Angie Lookout Tower Washington Angie 30°57′52″N 89°51′20″W Torn down. The USGS site lists the tower as "Angle", last appearance on a USGS map was in 2012.
Antiock Lookout Tower Claiborne Haynesville 32°52′45″N 93°00′33″W Torn down? Last appears labeled on USGS map from 2012. GNIS ID: 1630038
Antonia Lookout Tower Grant Pollock 31°36′06″N 92°25′14″W Torn down. Last labeled on a USGS map in 2012, cannot find on aerial imagery.
Athens Lookout Tower Claiborne Athens 32°39′28″N 93°3′35″W Torn down. USGS Maps labeled the tower in 2012, but removed it from the 2015 map. Cannot find on earliest aerial imagery in the area.
Bay Spring Lookout Tower LaSalle Community of Little Creek 31°44′37″N 92°15′34″W Torn down. Last appears labeled on 2012 USGS map, cannot find on earliest aerial imagery in the area from 1998.
Beaver Lookout Tower Evangeline Beaver 30°46′49″N 92°33′30″W Torn down. Unable to view on street view or older aerial imagery.
Beekman Lookout Tower Morehouse Beekman 32°55′46″N 91°51′5″W Torn down. Unable to view on street view or older aerial imagery.
Bel Lookout Tower Allen Bel 30°31′21″N 93°5′1″W Torn down. Visible on aerial imagery until 2018. Can be seen here on Google Street View.
Belah Lookout Tower La Salle Belah 31°38′32″N 92°10′55″W Torn down. Unable to view on street view or older aerial imagery.
Big Hill Lookout Tower Sabine Robeline 31°41′29″N 93°14′50″W Torn down. Unable to view on street view or older aerial imagery.
Blackburn Lookout Tower Claiborne Blackburn 32°50′22″N 93°10′58″W Torn down. Appears on aerial imagery from 1998.
Blue Lake Lookout Tower Sabine Ebarb 31°35′41″N 93°44′17″W Torn down. Disappears from USGS Maps in 1983. Unable to find in aerial imagery.
Bodcau Lookout Tower Bossier Bellevue 32°41′50″N 93°30′23″W Torn down. Torn down in 2009 for construction of additional state park facilities. Can be seen on Google Street View here.
Bolinger Lookout Tower Bossier Bolinger 32°56′29″N 93°43′52″W Torn down. Appears on 1984 revision of 1955 map, disappears on 1981 version of the map. Unable to find aerial imagery.
Clinton Lookout Tower East Feliciana Clinton 30°52′36″N 90°56′41″W Torn down. Visible on satellite imagery up until 2019, can be seen here on Google Street View before decommission.
Dry Creek Fire Tower Beauregard Dry Creek 30°39′54″N 92°59′42″W Still standing/Inactive Damaged[5]
Evans Lookout Tower Vernon Evans 30°58′57″N 93°26′22″W Torn down. Tower is visible in historical aerial imagery. Appears to have seen demolition between 2016 and 2018.
Fields Fire Tower Beauregard Fields, DeQuincy 30°33′29″N 93°32′21″W Still standing[6] Tower is visible here on Google Street View.
Gordon lookout tower Beauregard DeQuincy 30°28′47″N 93°20′11″W Still standing* Used on high wind days[7] Tower is visible here on Google Street View.
Kisatchie Lookout Tower Natchitoches Kisatchie 31°27′20″N 93°10′51″W Still standing/active use. Tower can almost be seen here on Google Street View.
Liverpool Fire Tower St. Helena Greensburg 30°55′35″N 90°43′45″W Still standing/active use. Tower can be seen here on Google Street View.
Livingston Fire Tower Livingston Livingston 30°33′17″N 90°45′9″W Torn down. Tower was torn down between 2016 & 2017, can be seen here on Google Street View.
Longville Fire Tower Beauregard Longville, DeRidder 30°39′23″N 93°13′57″W Torn down. Tower was torn down in 2003~ for US 171/US 190 highway widening project. Clearly visible in google earth aerial imagery from 2003.
Lorraine Fire Tower Tangipahoa Lorraine 30°30′22″N 90°16′38″W Still standing. Tower looks disused/retired. Visible here on Google Street View.
Merryville Lookout Tower Beauregard Merryville 30°43′16″N 93°30′21″W Torn down. Tower is visible on old aerial imagery. Appears to have been torn down between 2015 and 2016. Base of the tower is barely visible here on Google Street View.
Pine Grove Lookout Tower St. Helena Pine Grove 30°42′38″N 90°45′10″W Torn down. Tower inconsistently labeled on maps. Last appears labeled in 2012. Cannot find in older aerial imagery
Pride Lookout Tower East Baton Rouge Pride 30°42′30″N 90°56′21″W Torn down. As with others, appears on 2012 map, removed from 2015 map. Visible here on Google Street View prior to decommission.
Sardis Lookout Tower Winn Atlanta 31°50′39″N 92°42′28″W Torn down. Last appears on USGS map from 2012, not visible in aerial imagery. Location was just NW of current water tower.
Sheridan Lookout Tower Washington Sheridan 30°51′29″N 89°58′24″W Still standing/active use. The USGS maps here from 1945 shows the location of a LA National Guard target range just south of this structure.
Springville Lookout Tower Livingston Springville 30°26′20″N 90°39′27″W Torn down. Long retired, the tower was removed in March 2018. Livingston Parish Fire Protection District #2 posted a video on Facebook of it coming down. Visible here on Google Street View.
Sunny Hill Lookout Tower Washington Sunny Hill 30°53′57″N 90°15′57″W Still standing. Visible here on Google Street View.
Walker Lookout Tower Livingston Walker 30°25′58″N 90°51′28″W Torn down. Can only verify on old maps. Current location of Livingston Parish Fire District #4 station.
Wilson Lookout Tower East Feliciana Wilson 30°54′21″N 91°6′47″W Torn down. Disappears from satellite imagery sometime after 2016. Top of the tower seems visible on nearby street view imagery from 2008, but resolution is of low quality.
  • Notes: Towers on the National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR)[8]

References
  1. "Forestry". LDAF. pp. 36–37. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  2. "LA Forestry Offices divisions" (PDF). LDAF. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  3. "Louisiana Statewide Forest Resource Assessment and Strategy" (PDF). LDAF. pp. 36–37. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  4. "Feature Detail Report for: Abita Lookout Tower". USGS. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  5. "Beauregard Crime Stoppers seeking information in Dry Creek Fire Tower damage". USGS. 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
  6. Fields fire tower-Retrieved 2021-07-25
  7. "Gordon Lookout Tower". USGS. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  8. "Welcome to the NHLR!". American Resources, Inc. and Forest Fire Lookout Association. Retrieved 12 August 2020.

General references
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