Fire Towers In Minnesota: A Cold War Lookout Legacy

There was a time many years ago when Minnesota relied on fire towers to spot wildfires in its vast wilderness. Before aviation, satellites, drones, and improved technology, the only way to see if there was a fire was to watch for smoke. However, there was something else people were looking for from the fire towers for a strange period in Minnesota history.

Cold War Secrets of Northern Minnesota

I was watching the documentary "Cold War Secrets of Northern Minnesota," and I learned some pretty interesting stuff. One of the facts was that fire towers were used during the Cold War as part of an early alert system.

The Cold War was heating up in the 1950s. The United States and the Soviet Union were in an arms race and were building nuclear weapons for both attack and defense. Duluth, Minnesota, was an important geographic location, as it was anticipated that Soviet bombers would fly over the Arctic to strike America's heartland.

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Ground Observer Corps

This was back before intercontinental ballistic missiles. Radar was being used, but it still couldn't catch everything. So, the government created the Ground Observers Corps. These volunteers would scan the sky, looking for Soviet bombers over Northern Minnesota.

The plan was that observers could get an early alert out so people could duck and cover. Interceptor aircraft could be launched as well.

14,000 Volunteers Staffed 460 Observation Posts

Minnesota had the largest Ground Observer Corps in the entire US. They first used fire towers as observation posts. Then, it expanded to the rooftops of government buildings, and they even built new observation posts.

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Phased Out By 1959

Improvements in radar technology replaced the need for ground observers. Also, the Soviet Union successfully launched a rocket into space, and it was soon realized that they could launch a nuclear warhead at us instead of using bombers. Also, the hydrogen bombs the Soviets were making were so powerful that an early warning system wouldn't really help. In the 1960s, the focus shifted to building fallout shelters where you could survive the radioactive fallout.

The Largest Minnesota Wildfires In Modern History

While Minnesota has experienced even larger, more devastating fires like the 350,00-acre Hinckley Fire in 1884 of the 250,000-acre Cloquet-Moose Lake Fire in 1918, fires have thankfully been relatively smaller in more modern times.

Even though these more modern fires have been smaller, largely due to better firefighting capabilities, many have still been devastating and destructive. Here's a look at Minnesota's largest wildfires since 2007 based on information from the Minnesota Incident Command System.

Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper

Source: Fire Towers In Minnesota Played A Surprising Cold War Role