NEW MEXICO LOOKOUTS

LUERA PEAK

State

May 8, 1976:  "For the past couple of years, Ray Polasky's office has consisted of a metal office chair nailed to the top of a swaying 34-foot Ponderosa pine.
     He called it "an unusual experience."
     But after using the lookout tower in the Luera Range of southwestern New Mexico for the past 20 years, the State Forestry Department has now decided it's too dangerous to continue using it.
     "I just didn't think we could take the risk of continuing to use it because of the lightning danger up there," said State Forestry Chief Manuel Ortiz.
     Polasky carries the title of a State Forestry Department fire control chief and although he never had any close calls, he's not that upset about moving to a new station.
     "I just didn't go up when there were storms in the area."  Polasky said.  "I'd just make a quick check before and after the storm and usually we wouldn't miss too much."
     The department actually stopped using the facility last year during the middle of the forest fire season when lightning is often prevalent in New Mexico.  This spring is the first full fire season that the department has had to rely on other methods of spotting the fires.
     The "tower" was a metal office chair attached to a rickety wooden platform on top of the pine.  The tree was in an open meadow, and virtually every other tree in the vicinity had been struck by lightning at one time or another, Ortiz said.
     There was no ladder leading to the platform, and the device used for sighting locations of the fire was located on an old tree stump on the ground.
     "Using the sighting device was a very difficult problem," said Polasky.  "If you knew general directions, you could estimate where the fire was without using the finder."
     Polasky said there were never a whole lot of fires spotted from the Luera Range lookout anyway, probably because it was too low.
     Polasky said the Forestry Department wants to replace the old tower."  (The Greeley Daily-Tribune - Greeley, Colorado)