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In this Wednesday, July 18, 2018, photo, Tom VandeWater, who staffs the Coolwater Fire Lookout in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests for the U.S. Forest Service near Lowell, Idaho, demonstrates how he uses the location and sight-lines of other fire lookouts to help pinpoint the location of any fires or smoke he spots from his lookout station. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this Wednesday, July 18, 2018, photo, Tom VandeWater, who staffs the Coolwater Fire Lookout in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests for the U.S. Forest Service near Lowell, Idaho, demonstrates how he uses the location and sight-lines of other fire lookouts to help pinpoint the location of any fires or smoke he spots from his lookout station. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

July 29, 2018

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Mountaintop lookouts still crucial for spotting wildfires
July 29, 2018 4 a.m.

Mountaintop lookouts still crucial for spotting wildfires

BOISE, Idaho — Fire-lookout towers perched atop remote, craggy peaks across the U.S. West may seem like quaint reminders of an era before satellites, smartphones and jet-propelled air tankers.