Repairs to fire tower to begin soon

By MICHAEL RISINIT
The Journal News

Publication date: 5/11/2000

KENT --The Mount Nimham Fire Tower needs new stairs, among other repairs, and a ceremony on Saturday will be the first step in its restoration.

"We look at it as something that draws the community together," said George Baum, chairman of the Kent Conservation Advisory Commission.

The state granted the CAC stewardship of the tower last year. With a board of advisers that includes County Executive Robert Bondi and actress and Kent resident Jane Alexander, the commission plans to raise money and organize volunteers to refurbish the structure. Volunteers will build new stairs, scrape and paint the framework, and replace the cupola atop the 90-foot tower.

A two-mile hike, storytelling, American Indian and folk music, and a talk about fire towers will highlight Saturday's rededication ceremony at the tower's base on Mount Nimham.

Restoration work will take about three years, and the tower will not be accessible to the public until work is complete. Estimated cost for materials is $15,000.

The tower atop the 1,244-foot peak in Kent was built during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The tower, used until the early 1980s to spot forest fires, has since succumbed to weather and vandals. Arson was thought to be the cause of a 1994 fire that destroyed a cabin and shed next to the tower.

At one time, according to figures from the National Historic Lookout Register, about 7,000 fire towers dotted the United States. The structures, staffed by various state and federal forestry personnel, were the first line of defense in extinguishing blazes in the woods. With the advent of planes, satellites and the spread of suburbia, the towers' role in fire detection decreased or disappeared. Some were torn down and others, like Kent's, are being restored by preservation groups.

There are about 2,000 standing today and the national register's goal is to help protect and maintain at least 1,000 of them. The Mount Nimham tower is registered with the Washington, D.C.-based organization.

"Lookouts are special places," said Keith Argo, the register's chairman. "They have a long history in forestry, from a time when we didn't appreciate our forests like today."

The CAC's goal is to establish the tower as a tourist destination. Hikers, school groups and others would have the opportunity to enjoy the tower's expansive views.

"I have been up there, but I will not admit to trespassing," Baum said. "On a clear day you can make out the towers in New York City."