Prospect Fire Tower Village of Lake George Memories by Richard Horn

Lake George Village was my home for the first 27 years of my life. In the 1940's and 1950's Frank Wheeler was the Conservation Department fire warden and drove a red pickup truck with a red light and siren on the hood and it had a gasoline water pump and "Indian Tanks" in the back. He responded to all the forest fires in our area and coordinated the fire fighting effort. Volunteer fire departments and local citizens would leave their jobs to fight the fires.  High school boys would also help. On a few occasions we high school boys would sleep overnight at the fire scene with Indian Pumps to extinguish any flare-ups.  I believe Harold Norton was the man stationed at Prospect Mountain fire tower.  

They paid us a small amount per hour. The Fire Warden would go around with a clip board after the fire was under control and the volunteers would print their name, address and hours worked. After a few weeks, a check would come in the mail.  One time both me and my older brother fought the fire. My brother worked more hours than I did but since I was already on the roster from previous fires, they sent all the money to me for both of us.  Being a teenager, I was happy with the amount but brother wasn't happy when I spent his money too.  I heard there started to be some cheating on names and the number of hours worked so that's probably why they went to Forest Rangers. 

I'm happy to share my memories with you.