For this fire lookout, home is a cabin 20 feet off the ground
Brig Malessa spends fire season living in the tower and travels the rest of the year. “I can get by on very little money.”
This year marks Brig Malessa’s fourth season as a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service. For her, the living situation is a big part of the job’s appeal.
“It’s the closest you can get to living outside without living outside,” Malessa said. This year’s lookout cabin, located several hours east of Bend, Oregon, is about 14 feet by 14 feet and sits atop a 20-foot structure. “Every wall is covered in windows,” she said. “And then there’s a bed, a desk, a stove, a little dorm-sized fridge.” (There’s an outhouse downstairs.)
On a typical day, Malessa is on duty for 12 hours, during which she watches for early signs of fire such as smoke. While technology like aerial surveillance has led to a steady decline in human-operated fire lookouts, the U.S. Forest Service estimates that there are still around 300 staffed lookouts in operation. Malessa is proud to staff one of them.
On her TikTok account, Malessa regularly documents her life in the tower (and coaches hopefuls on how they might get a lookout job). In addition to an hourly salary, Malessa’s cabin is provided for the entirety of the fire season, from late May to early October.
“The pay for a fire lookout is approximately $18 an hour,” she said. “And I have been able to live off of that for the entire year.”
When the fire season is over, Malessa prefers a nomadic lifestyle over keeping a permanent home base. “If I commit to a mortgage or honestly even paying rent on a place, then it just feels terrifying,” she said. “What if suddenly I didn’t have the money to pay for that?”
Malessa, 53, imagines she’ll do seasonal work and live a nomadic lifestyle as long as she physically can. “Housing is anywhere that I feel safe and cozy. That can be the inside of my minivan, it can be the inside of the fire lookout for four months,” she said. “I know some fire lookouts in their 80s, so I sure hope that this job still exists when I’m 80, and I’d love to be one of those people.”
