ARIZONA—For 35 years, Dee Carstensen has been watching for wildfire starts in the Diamond Point portion of the Tonto National Forest, just east of Payson, Arizona.

The Diamond Point Lookout, at 6,384 feet above sea level, is one of seven strategically located fire lookout towers in Arizona’s 2.9-million-acre Tonto National Forest. Built in the mid-1930s, the 12-by-12-foot lookout cabin atop the steel tower’s 30-foot frame is Dee Carstensen’s office and home to a collection of plants, flowers, some 50 hungry hummingbirds and Smokey, Dee’s constant canine companion. She is responsible for watching the weather and spotting smoke from possible wildfires, both human- and lightning-caused.

After three decades in the lookout, she knows the difference between a simple campfire and a wildfire.  “Campsite campfires generally send up smoke as they start; the smoke dissipates once the campfire settles,” said Carstensen.

During fire season, 12 hours a day, six days a week, she and Smokey hike up from her RV to the base of the lookout, up three sets of steep stairs and, at the top, push up a trap door part of the floor to the only entrance to the lookout.

Lookout furnishings are sparse: a desk, table, two chairs, a plush dog bed, and a two-way King radio connecting the lookout to a dispatcher at the Phoenix Interagency Dispatch Center in Mesa. An Osborne Fire Finder occupies the center of the room and gives Carstensen location and distance information when smoke appears above the trees.

Carstensen began working with the Forest Service in the 1980s. She has held a series of Forest Service jobs, including four years on a fire crew. That position gave her an experienced eye and the intuitive sense to know when weather patterns or other factors around an active wildfire might endanger the crews and fire operations.

“Every fire has its own character,” said Carstensen, “I spotted the Highline Fire in 2017, it took off fast, growing more than 50 acres in about an hour.”

Soft spoken with a quiet nature, Carstensen’s passion for her work runs deep. She can point out every butte, mountain, campground, valley and landmark within her Diamond Point lookout purview. In 2005, she received her 25 years of service plaque from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“I would like to hit the 50-year mark in 2029, and retire to a quiet little spot near Gisela, [Ariz.]” she said.

Carol Taska Smith is a Tonto National Forest volunteer. She wrote this piece about fellow volunteer Cartsensen.