FLORIDA LOOKOUTS
MARIANNA FC HQ
Jackson County
June 4, 1950: "Contracts have been let by the Florida Forest Service for the construction of a 100 foot lookout tower at Marianna, District Forester J. Edwin Moore announced last week.
Negotiations are also underway for a contract to build an office and two dwellings at the tower-site. The office will serve as the Count Ranger's headquarters for Jackson County Forest Fire Control Unit.
Moore added that four lookout towers will be erected in the county and that active forest fire suppression will begin shortly after July 1." (Panama City News-Herald)
Negotiations are also underway for a contract to build an office and two dwellings at the tower-site. The office will serve as the Count Ranger's headquarters for Jackson County Forest Fire Control Unit.
Moore added that four lookout towers will be erected in the county and that active forest fire suppression will begin shortly after July 1." (Panama City News-Herald)
March 7, 1954: "A patrol plane piloted by D.E. Ward and flying daily, weather permitting, is proving a major lookout medium against forest fires in Jackson County, according to W.B. Martin, ranger, stationed at the Marianna Fire Tower, one of five in this county.
During February, and a short month at that, there were 64 'wildfires' in this county, said Mr. Martin. This figure represented more than half of the total on record from July 1, 1953 to March 1, 1954, which showed 122 blazes.
Of the February fires one destroyed a dwelling valued at $1,500 with only about $250 of the valuation salvaged by the forest rangers' equipment and effort. Mr. Marten has issued an appeal for full co-operation of the public with the ranger service in reducing and control of these fires which destroy thousands of valuable timber lands and are a menace to property and life. Carelessness, said Mr. Marten, is the major cause of such blazes." (Panama City News-Herald)