forums
new posts
donate
UER Store
events
location db
db map
search
members
faq
terms of service
privacy policy
register
login




UER Forum > Canada: Other > Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan (Viewed 8309 times)
FoMoCo 


Location: Saskatchewan
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 54 likes


@ Infiltrating_sas k

 |  |  | Instagram
Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< on 1/27/2017 2:15 AM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
By no means is this 'urban' exploring, it defiantly falls under remote exploration; it doesn't really fall under abandonment.

Fire towers have been around as long as forest fires have been threatening communities, but in 2013 the Ministry of Environment fire management and forest protection branch had to cut back its workforce and ended up laying off 40 towermen. They were replaced with cameras. Meaning that remote towermen cabins were left virtually abandoned and towers are left 'in use' but unoccupied. The province unfortunately removed all the cupolas (the little house on top) and just installed a camera on top that is remotely controlled from Prince Albert base, all the imagery is also sent to Prince Albert where 3 people can look at monitors from 50ish towers, 40 people's job just became 3 people's jobs. It was a controversial move by the Ministry, especially with the major wildfires in 2015. Lack of early detection was brought up when forest fires got out of hand.

Most of these remote cabins are fenced off with barbed wire, even if they weren't, the cabins are locked up. Occasionally the bases of the towers are fenced off as well, roads to them (which can me kilometers long) often have locked gates prevented one from driving to it...time for a hike in bear country!

Saskatchewan fire towers are 90ft tall and are often erected on natural heights of land creating stunning views, if you do get a chance to visit a tower keep your face out of view of the rotating camera, or go when it's not fire season.

Be safe when climbing any kind of tower; don't go alone, especially in remote places in bear country.
I have decided to say names/locations as this information as already publicly available with a quick Google search.


Photos taken from 2013-2016.
Enjoy!


PHOTOSPHERE link:
http://sphereshare...712e2f6e4c0b0d914f
This photosphere was taken at the round hill fire tower in 2016.



1.

Map of towers in the province.



2.


Nesbit tower.


3.

Anglin Lake tower, cabin in the fall 2013.


4.


Anglin Lake tower, fall 2013.



5.

Anglin Lake tower, spring 2014.


6.

Anglin Lake tower, fall 2014, note the cabin on the hilltop.


7.

Summit tower (not on the map) is located in the Prince Albert National Park; the national park decommissioned all 7 of their towers all together in the 90's, (to my knowledge only 2 are still standing) relying on aerial detection during high risk days. Furthermore the park doesn't suppress fires as it's the natural cycle of the boreal forest.


8.

Summit tower fall 2014.


9.

Summit tower fall 2014.


10.

Summit tower, fall 2014.


11.

Summit tower, spring 2015.


12.

Summit tower, fall 2015.


13.

Round hill tower, (see photosphere) fall 2016.


14.

Amazing view from Round hill tower, fall 2016.


15.


Molanosa tower, summer 2016 (didn't have time to climb it ).


16.


Thunder mountain tower and a radio repeater tower to the right, spring 2015.



17.

Thunder mountain tower, spring 2015.


18.


Thunder mountain tower, summer 2016 (now fenced off).


19.

Thunder mountain tower was located right in the middle of a 119 000 hectare fire that burned in July of 2015. This photo was taken in the spring of 2015 before the fire.


20.

Roughly the same photo almost a year later.



Overall a nice thing to do on a warm weekend in the spring.










PhoenixFinder 


Total Likes: 9 likes




 |  | 
Re: Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< Reply # 1 on 1/30/2017 11:01 PM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
Awesome pictures. I wish we had stuff like this in Arizona ;(




OH_ZOG_NO 


Location: Ottawa
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 97 likes




 |  | 
Re: Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< Reply # 2 on 1/31/2017 7:02 AM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
Posted by FoMoCo
By no means is this 'urban' exploring, it defiantly falls under remote exploration; it doesn't really fall under abandonment.



I think your looking for rurbex. I always though of fire towers as comfy towers with cabins at the top. Guess i was wrong. Nice pics




Peptic Ulcer 


Location: Katy, TX
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 838 likes


"Isn't it fun - being bad?"

 |  |  | Flickr
Re: Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< Reply # 3 on 1/31/2017 3:07 PM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
I remember reading a Kerouac novel in college (On The Road?) and he talked about being a fire watcher. It seemed lonely but there was a romance to it that fascinated me at the time. Looks like these towers have gone the way of buggy whips but you can't stop "progress" I guess...




See More on Flickr!
https://www.flickr...tos/133983270@N06/
superphoenix 


Location: New York City
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 170 likes


There's a madness to my methods

 |  | 
Re: Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< Reply # 4 on 2/7/2017 3:38 AM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
These are beautiful!




Whyshy  


Location: Halifax NS
Total Likes: 33 likes




 |  | 
Re: Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< Reply # 5 on 8/28/2019 3:53 PM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
well its different haha




rampantscyther 


Location: Winnipeg, MB
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 14 likes




 |  | 
Re: Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< Reply # 6 on 10/22/2019 7:46 PM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
Man great pics. You’re brave to climb those. I’ll explore any place as long as it’s not straight up 🤣




@rampantscyther on instagram
ThePilotGuy 


Gender: Male
Total Likes: 7 likes




 |  | 
Re: Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< Reply # 7 on 10/23/2019 7:07 PM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
Some really great shots. It's unfortunate that the cupola's were removed, but I don't think I would climb the tower even if they were still up there.

You're braver than I am to climb these towers.




The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.
RescueMe1060 


Location: San Francisco
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 1645 likes


Radioactivity, its in the air for you & me

 |  | 
Re: Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan
< Reply # 8 on 1/11/2020 2:36 AM >
Reply with Quote
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
As expected these are some amazing views of the surrounding landscape.




http://www.flickr....rescueme1060/sets/
UER Forum > Canada: Other > Climbing fire towers of Saskatchewan (Viewed 8309 times)


Add a poll to this thread



This thread is currently Public. Anyone, including search engines, may see it.



All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire.
To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site: UER CONTACT
View Terms of Service | View Privacy Policy | Server colocation provided by Beanfield
This page was generated for you in 93 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 737045657 pages have been generated.