Leif Haugen, who has worked for more than half of his 52 years as a fire lookout, drinking his morning coffee at the Thoma lookout in Flathead National Forest. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
IF, on a hot, dry day a fire should break out within a certain 121,000ha patch of northwest Montana, in an expanse of backcountry between the crest of the Whitefish Range and the glacier-carved peaks that hug the Continental Divide, there’s a good chance Leif Haugen will be the first person on Earth to see it.
For the better part of an hour, he might be the only person.
The last line
Haugen with his dog, Ollie. — Photos: ©2023 The New York Times Company
Haugen using an Osborne Fire Finder, a sighting and plotting instrument.
Eyeglasses, maps, and other belongings at the Thoma fire lookout in Flathead National Forest.
Binoculars are essential.
The Glacier View Ranger Station, headquarters for the Flathead Hot Shot Crew of forest firefighters, in Hungry Horse, Montana. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
The Glacier View Ranger Station, headquarters for the Flathead Hot Shot Crew of forest firefighters, in Hungry Horse, Mont. on July 7, 2023. (Mark Felix/The New York Times)
Andy Huntsberger, a fire management officer, on the Firefighter Mountain lookout tower in Flathead National Forest.
Otto looking at a digital map showing where satellites are picking up heat signatures at the Interagency Dispatch Center in Kalispell.
A mountain goat along the Highline Trail, in Glacier National Park. As land managers look for new tools to manage the threat of catastrophic wildfires, which is rising in the West as the planet warms and Americans build more homes in vulnerable areas, the days of lookouts might be numbered.
A firefighting truck at the Glacier View Ranger Station, headquarters for the Flathead Hot Shot Crew of forest firefighters, in Hungry Horse, Montana.
A map used to keep track of all forest fires and firefighters in Flathead County, at the Interagency Dispatch Center in Kalispell, Montana.
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