Name of Lookout:  Calpine Lookout Tower

Reported by:  Alvin Urie

Location:  2,8 miles out of Calpine, CA

GPS Reading: 

Date:  August 1, 2005

CONDITION: 
 

Needs paint?

Comments:  Needs to have the screens replaced and windows repaired for more ventilation.

ELECTRONICS AND ENCROACHMENTS:
 

Other encroachments?  (Describe) 
 

Comments:  How secure are these towers? On July 16th, 2005, at about 40 minutes after midnight, three people, two men and a woman, came up to the tower to roust us out and to have fun. Not knowing what fun they were going to have, and after asking them to leave three times I fired a shot with my rifle into the air to give them a warning not to come any closer and to leave. Two of them got back into their vehicle. The driver yelled at me and then got into his mountain style vehicle and rammed my SUV. We have sinced learned that our vehicle has been totalled. This shook up both myself and my wife and we were afraid to go to sleep the remainder of the night. Once light, we walked out to Calpine, 2.8 miles, to call the sheriff. There is a police report and an investigation. My question is, what is the liability of the Forest Service and what are they doing to provide a safe and secure environment? Should people be told up front that they need to have a weapon to protect themselves ? We were given a combination to a gate which implied that we were safe, if we closed and locked the gate each and everytime going through it. However, these people apparently entered through an old logging road that met up with the main road to the lookout, after the locked gate. The Forest Service had not secured this road and had not notified us there was another road to the lookout. How safe are the other lookouts around the country? We believe the Forest Service should have some responsibility in providing a safe and secure environment when renting out these Lookout towers.
 

ACCESS AND SIGNS:
 

Comments: 

 

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OPPORTUNITY FOR VOLUNTEER SUPPORT:

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