| 16 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago Lone man on mountaintop spots Maine fires
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(Amy Sinclair, NECN: Waterboro, Maine) - Thanks to high-tech gadgets and other new technology, firefighters are able to fight fires and save lives faster than ever before. But once in a while, nothing beats know-how and a pair of binoculars.
NECN's Amy Sinclair explains.
Script:
Jason L'Heureux talks to firefighters all over York County on his two-way radio, but he works alone in a 30-foot high fire tower on top of 11, 000 foot high Ossipee Mountain. He has been firespotting on the mountain since 1993.
Jason: "I started volunteering with the other volunteers and then slowly got into it."
He's at the tower most days from March until October scanning the horizon looking for telltale smoke. Tuesday, was one of many occasions when Jason's birds eye view and ability to interpret smoke paid off.
20 miles away, near the coast in Wells, a fire fueled by dry conditions and gusty winds was raging. Jason was the first to spot it, get a compass reading and call it in.
Jason: "Winds were blowing, the other two Maine towers weren't working, we had to get across from New Hampshire."
His compass reading, combined with one from a New Hampshire fire tower, got them within one street of the fire's actual location. While there were once 80 towers across Maine, there are just three now, all in York County.
The Maine Forestry Service still owns the towers, but they stopped funding them in 1991. Today, they're staffed and maintained
by volunteers. Jason is the only volunteer at the Ossipee fire tower.
Chief: "Without Jason, it probably wouldn't be in existence because there's no paid staff for that position."
But Jason seems happy in his work.
Jason: "It's relaxing, even on busy days, sometimes it's fun watching storms roll through."
He may not be getting rich, but with his 360-degree views from Mount Washington to Mount Agamenticus, he's got a million dollar view.
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