On the eve of Saturday September 2nd, find a place with a view of your favorite fire tower on the horizon for the 10th annual Lighting of the Fire Towers event!

Meant to showcase the history of the Catskill fire towers, find an area in your neighborhood where you have a view of one of the fire towers, and watch as the cabs light up from 9:00pm to 9:30pm! The fire towers will be lit by Catskill Center volunteers. This year you can find out which of the fire towers will be lit by visiting the Forest Fire Lookout Association’s webpage here: http://www.nysffla.org/light.html

The men and women who were in the fire tower cabs protected the Catskills from forest fires by providing fire fighters with an early detection and reporting system that was amazingly accurate. For years, these fire tower observers watched faithfully like beacons over the Catskills!

http://catskillfiretowers.org

Photo of Hunter Fire Tower by Tim Roberts

Read on for our suggested viewing locations:

Balsam Lake Mountain

1) Scenic Overlook at the top of Palmer Hill along State Route 28 between Margaretville and Andes

2) At the top of Todd Mt Road (Ulster County Route 49A) near the intersection with Kelly Road

3) Dingle Hill in Andes, NY. Dingle Hill Road and Ridge Road are both in Andes and can offer a view from your car of the Balsam Lake Mountain Fire Tower

Hunter Mountain

1) Gordon Realty on Route 23A in Hunter has granted permission for viewers to use their parking lot for the “Lighting of the Towers” event Saturday, September 5th.

Gordon Realty, Inc.
6528 Route 23A
Hunter, NY 12442
518-589-9000

http://www.gordonrealty.com

Overlook Mountain

1) Thorn Preserve off Zena Road

2) Zena Corn Field

3) Zena School

Red Hill

1) The pull off on top of the Rondout Reservoir – Merriman dam on Rt. 55 about 7 or 8 miles west of Ellenville.

2) Claryville/Denning Rd. near the YMCA East Valley Farm.

3) Red Hill Knolls Rd.

4) Rudolph Rd.

5) Blue Hill Rd. west of Claryville

6) East side of Bridge over the Rondout Creek on Rt. 55A

7) Balsam Lake Mt. Fire Tower

8) Summits of the following high peaks; Peekamoose, Table, Lone, Friday, Cornell, Slide, Fir, Big Indian, Doubletop, and Graham Mts.

9) Most of the Rt. 52 pulloffs east of Ellenville on the way to Pine Bush.

10) Mohonk Mt. House and Skytop Tower

Mount Tremper

1) State Route 28 near the intersection of State Route 28A