High above El Dorado County, volunteers at the Pilot Peak Lookout Tower spend hours scanning the horizon for one thing that could signal danger: smoke.
The lookout offers sweeping views across three counties, giving the Pilot Peak Smoke Seekers a unique vantage point during California's fire season.
"Just a quick glance around, both near and far, to make sure there's not a new smoke," said David Buettner, a Pilot Peak Smoke Seeker.
The volunteer group maintains a watch 12 hours a day, seven days a week during fire season.
If Buettner spots something unusual, he grabs his binoculars and takes a closer look.
"I'll stop. I'll pick up a pair of binoculars and look closer to identify the item," he said.
The number of staffed lookout towers in California has declined over the years.
Of the 217 lookout towers that remain standing across the state, about 58 are currently staffed, according to the Forest Fire Lookout Association.
As the number of human eyes watching from lookout towers has decreased, technology has increasingly become another tool for spotting wildfires.
AlertCalifornia, a public safety program operated by UC San Diego, uses a statewide network of cameras and sensors to monitor wildfires and other natural hazards in real time.
The program grew out of UC San Diego research and combines its camera network with scientific research and data to help emergency responders prepare for and respond to disasters.
At Pilot Peak, however, volunteers say the goal is not to replace people with technology. Instead, the two can complement each other.
"They may see something before we see something, or we'll see something and they'll check it with the camera as well," Buettner said.
That combination of human observation and technology was especially important during the Miners Fire in El Dorado County.
Volunteers at Pilot Peak were the first to spot the fire and report it.
Derek Evans, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Amador-El Dorado Unit, said the human element remains critical.
"The human eye factor is just something that isn't always displaceable," Evans said. "The cameras pick up many things, but with those guys verifying it and seeing that little variation in the skyline, they pick up on it instantly."
The early report helped get firefighters moving within minutes.
"Due to that early report and their quick action to get on the radio to report the fire, we had crews responding within the unit in about two to three minutes," Evans said.
For the volunteers who spend their time watching the landscape from Pilot Peak, that early detection is the ultimate goal.
"I have an invested interest in making sure that the community in which I live gets early reports. That it gets quickly identified and resources can control it as quickly as possible," Buettner said.
As technology continues to expand the number of eyes watching California's wildlands, Pilot Peak's volunteers say there is still value in human experience, knowing the landscape and recognizing when something on the horizon simply doesn't look right.
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