Newspaper Page Text
8-A
The Summerville News, Thursday, March 12, 1987
‘High’ Ranger Seeks Evidence Of Forest Fires
By TOMMY TOLES
Editor
A CLOUDLAND man
knows what it's like to look
down on jet fighters and
military transport aircraft, and
almost see eyeball-to-eyeball
with hawks and buzzards, all
without moving more than
seven feet in any direction.
Robert “Butch’ Overstreet
is a Georgia Forestry Commis
sion ranger who is stationed
during high fire-risk days in a
50-foot tower atop the
southern tip of Tzfillor‘s Ridge.
On haze-free days, he can
see 25 to 30 miles in all direc
tions. Last Friday, Overstreet
said visibility was between
eight and 12 miles — as the
crow flies, that is.
PERCHED INSIDE the
tiny tower, Overstreet is link
ed to the outside world by a
two-way radio although a
telephone line is being run up
the side of the ridge along a
Eower company right-of-way.
or companionship, Overstreet
has a small blacfi and white
television set and a couple of
books, one on the battle of
Chickamauga.
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TOWER LOCATED ON “HIGH POINT”
Reached By Winding Dirt Road
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FIRE NEAR LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN CHECKED BY OVERSTREET
Blaze Erupted Last Friday Afternoon
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SIGHTING DEVICE AT BOTTOM USED TO LOCATE FIRES
Aimed In On Fire Near Lookout Mountain
However, he said he doesn't
get a chance to view many pro
grams or read the books,
“because you've always got to
be monitoring; a fire can start
in just a few seconds.” The
television set, which was on the
Georgia Tech-North Carolina
basketball game, "'is just com
pany,” Overstreet said while
scanning the horizon with
binoculars. :
THE CLOUDLAND resi
dent is stationed in the tower
during days of high fire risk.
During times when foliage is
dry, or humidity is low or
winds are high, he is in the
tower early and stays late.
If rangers are fighting fires
anywhere in the area, he stays
in the tower until the fires have
been extinguished, mainly for
communication purposes. The
forestry headquarters south of
Summerville on Highway 27 is
unable to communicate by
radio with all areas of the coun
ty, while the tower's radio
equipment can reach the entire
county because of its height,
Overstreet explained.
Fire risk days are rated
from one to five with five being
the highest. During classes
three to five, Overstreet heads
for the tower.
HIGH POINT, where the
tower is located, really isn't the
highest spot in the county.
That distinction belongs to an
outcroppin‘g atop Lookout
Mountain. And a place off the
Narrows Picnic I?oad on the
north end of Taylor's Ridge is
the highest point on the
ridgeline. Elevation at the
tower’'s location is 1,540 feet,
which is high enough to make
vehicles on Highway 100 ap
pear to be fast-moving ants.
In addition to his tefievision
set, Overstreet's ‘“*home” in the
tower has an electric heater, an
unused folding lawn chair,
along with a wooden cabinet,
map of the county and alledate,
a circular device used to sight
the dee:frees at which a fire is
located in relation to the tower.
One bare light bulb in the white
rainted ceiling J)rovides il
umination if needed.
THE CEILING also bears
numerous scars, witnesses to
shots fired at the tower by van
dals. Several windows have
bullet holes and Overstreet
said 14 panes had to be replac
ed as the fire season began this
year. Most panes have to be
replaced every year because of
vandals. Due to the angle of
fire, most of the bullets that
come through the windows
pockmark the ceiling.
Much to Overstreet's relief,
he’'s never been in the tower
when someone took a potshot
at the 7x7 structure, which was
built in 1948.
Vandals became so bad at
one point that they actually
broke through the bottom of
the tower's trap door and
entered the facility. Since that
time, steel sheets gn'ave been in
stalled in the floor.
ALTHOUGH HE has wat
ched storm squalls race
through various parts of the
county, Overstreet said the
tower has never been hit by
lightning while he was on
gagch. “I wouldn't be here if it
ad.
Citing the advantages of a
fulltime person in the tower,
Overstreet said it would be a
“perfect’’ lookout for ap
proaching tornadoes but ad
mitted, “‘I wouldn't want to be
up here if one started heading
this way.”
On his first day back in the
tower in 1987, winds were
about 45mph, causing the
alledate to rattle as the tower
vibrated, Overstreet said with
a nervous grin. P
AN OBSERVER in the
tower can see Summerville and
even Trion on a clear day.
Tightsqueeze Lake is a shim
mering blue pool surrounded
by a dark lavender forest and
Highway 100 meanders to the
south at the base of the ridge.
Bigelow-Sanford Cor?oration‘s
Lyerly plant is visible just to
the west of the tower. The
spine of 'l‘ag'lor's Ridge un
dulates to the north and the
scar left by the Rocky Moun
tain project in adjacent Floyd
County 1s located southeast of
the tower.
A fire at the base of
Lookout Mountain in Alabama
was spotted by Overstreet last
Friday. As the afternoon pro
gressed, it grew steadily larger
and another smaller blaze
began near the first.
Overstreet can direct
ground fire-fighting equipment
to a blaze as well as three
Forestry Commission aircraft
ora wateg—carrxing l:elicopter.
IF LANDOWNERS who
plan controlled burns would
just notify the Forestry Com
mission office at Summerville
ahead of time, it would save a
lot of manpower, and mileage
being put on firefightin%veqmp
ment, Overstreet said. When a
fire is spotted from the tower,
there's no way of knowing
whether it is a controlled blaze
or a deliberately set wildfire —
unless it has been reported in
advance. When such a fire is
sgotted, equipment is sent to
the scene immediately, he
added.
When a telephone line has
been installed to the tower, he
will be able to telephone
volunteer fire departments in
the county and ask them to
check on suspicious smoke in
their areas if Sorestry Commis
sion equipment is already tied
up, he said.
During blazes which roar
out of control, the Forestry
Commission has a helicopter
that carries a ‘‘bucket” wgich
can be dipped in any pond, lake
or stream and then carried to
a fire and a trapdoor released,
dro(i)ping the water, the ranger
said.
ALTHOUGH THE tower
is only about six air miles from
Summerville, it may be reach
ed only by a windin% dirt road
from tl;e base of Taylor's Ridge
in the Silver Hill community.
When the tower isn’t being us
ed, a gate is locked across the
entrance. From the tower to
downtown Summerville
measures a bit over 15 miles.
“] see a lot of pretty
scenery up here; deer, foxes,
hawks and dogwoods,”’
Overstreet said. One Friday
when he left the tower to go
home, pink dogwoods were in
bloom. “When I got back up
here on Monday morning, it
was all white — they had
bloomed over the weeKend."
He has been on the lookout for
one of the golden eagles releas
ed on Pigeon Mountain during
the last couple of years but so
far hasn’t spotted any of the
ma%nificent birds.
nce the ranger said he
thought he was witnessing a
scene out of Alfred Hitchcock’s
movie, ‘‘The Birds,” when he
spotted a flock of about 35 buz
zards heading down Taylor's
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Summerville Visible Through Haze Below Buzzard
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joked.
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BULLET HOLE EVIDENCE OF VANDAL
14 Panes Replaced In Tower This Season
RANGER ROBERT OVERSTREET GOES OVER DATA
Plots Location Of Fire From Taylor's Ridge Tower
race up the valleys on both
sides of Taylor's Ridge,
blasting the tower with sonic
booms on a regular basis.
“They almost blow me out of
here,”” he said. Once, he looked
down at several jet fighters rac
ing up the green valleys at
treetop level, followed by a
huge cargo plane, possibly a
C-5. To look down on aircraft
feels ‘“‘strange,” he said.
A lot of hikers pass by the
tower in the spring, as well as
younfsters in four-wheel drive
vehicles, Overstreet said. Even
if no one drops by, he never
feels lonely ‘‘because there's so
much to do”’ monitoring 360
degrees from the tower.
WHEN TREES put forth
leaves, the county looks com
pletely different from the
tower, Overstreet said. Land
marks, buildings and small
roads disappear in the foliage.
During all the time he has
spent enroute to and from the
tower and viewing the land
scape all around him,
Staff Photos By Tommy Toles
Entire Stock
Bedding
/2 Price
DUFF’S
JIM’S
VA
Lyerly Highway . Phone 857-2123
BREAKFAST
SPECIAL
Country Ham,
2 Eggs
Biscuits and Grits or Gravy
SERVED 6 AM.-11 AM. /
7 DAYS A WEEK
Overstreet said he's never seen
Bigfoot, a legendary creature
reported to have been spotted
in the Jenkins Gap area of the
ridge late last summer.
DURING THE early part
of this week after a rainstorm
hit the county, Overstreet got
a brief reprieve from iis
solitary duty. But come the
first blustery, warm clear day,
he planned to climb the wooden
st?s to his perch once aqain
and take up his binoculars
while listening to a rerun of
“Perry Mason” on his televi
sion set.