Above photo: Kathy Rankin, Director of the NYS Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) visited The Hobart Exchange on Saturday, February 28th to give a talk on the history of the fire tower system across NY State. The fire tower atop Mount Utsyantha in Stamford has been added to the Catskills Fire Tower Challenge for 2026. The FFLA holds an agreement with the Village of Stamford to provide volunteers for the fire tower's steward program. Learn more by visiting the group's website: http://nysffla.org.

Laurie showed the group the essential tools of a fire lookout. Here Don Thomases is learning a bit more about an alidade that was received by the NYS FFLA as an anonymous gift. An alidade can be used to find a directional bearing to smoke in order to alert fire crews to a wildland fire.