Left Hanging -

Fire trees were specifically selected due to their height and position where lookouts were built and ladders made of wooden pegs or iron rods driven in to the sides of the trees allowed access to the lookouts placed in the tops of the trees.

Fire tree lookouts were used during the long hot summer months to pin-point the locations of any new fires in the forests of the south west.

The lookouts could communicate with each other and by triangulating any smoke, they could work out fairly precisely where the fire was and then direct fire fighters to the fire quickly.

The lookouts were constructed mostly by bush craftsmen, not engineers or steeplejacks.

Around 50 different trees were climbed and assessed but most proved to be unsuitable.

Selecting the right tree was no easy job. Each one that looked like it might do the job had to be climbed first to see what the view was like from the top.

Once at the top the climber had to determine if the view was suitable and that the crown of the tree was likely to be able to support a cabin.

When a tree was selected, 2 inch auger holes had to be bored in the trunk. A series of pre-cut karri pegs were then hammered in to the holes, each one offset to the last to make a spiralling ladder leading up around the tree trunk.

Getting the pegs right was very important as an incident in 1952 involving District Forestry Officer, John Meachem showed. John was nearing the top of a ladder while inspecting the construction of the Boorara treeand a peg he put his weight on suddenly snapped off.

John was left hanging by his arms 50 metres up with nothing below him but air.

He managed to swing his body in a rocking motion until he could get his feet back on the previous peg but after that close call, every peg had to be properly tested by inserting it into a slightly oversized hole just above ground level and having a large man jump up and down on it.

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