Source
r/Firewatch•
Firewolf420

Does anyone here work in actual Firewatch or US Forest Service? What are your thoughts on the game?

Discussion

Personally, as someone who's familiar with US National Parks I strongly felt like they captured the feel of everything very well. Even down to that stereotypical font they use on the signs or the maps you use. It feels quite authentic!

I know (or at least, I hope) that real life Firewatch usually doesn't have as much conspiracy and drama and investigations. But I am wondering if anyone would have any first-hand experience with the job, and if they have any comments on how they felt about the game!

I've always thought that Firewatch and really any Forestry work are fascinating and remarkably unique jobs (one I wish I had, well before playing this game, actually). Interested if anyone here has been there.

Posted Jan 2, 2022, 11:16 AM UTC

5023
AltJulia26•

As someone who’s from Australia (and yes my name is Julia lol) and not familiar with the American National parks, it’s nice to know that they encapsulated that feeling well. That game provides so much relaxation for me and I always return to it out of comfort for free roaming. So, sorry can’t answer your question but love that even the print remains reminiscent of the real deal :)) thanks!

17
Firewolf420OP•

I think it's so cool that someone from abroad is able to get a taste of the National Park feel that is so prevalent across the country here!

Since the forestry service is often organized at a federal level to some degree, the styling is very uniform across the country, which is pretty cool! It was also mostly built up around the same time period, and frankly they haven't changed it all that much over the years (especially in remote regions!) so this sort of "Park Aesthetic" has got a kinda retro feel, and is really quite prevalent across the nation. If you spend time in the parks, you sort of get that weird familiar feeling whether you're in the mountains of Colorado or the plains of midwest Illinois.

As a kid, I grew up going to many of those "scout camps" that you actually go through in the game! So the whole feel really brings about a lot of nostalgia for me personally and I think it's cool that you get to see it too. Maybe one day you can visit some of our parks and see them IRL! They are quite breathtaking :)

3
AltJulia26•

Oh that’s so interesting about the the parks all holding the same aesthetic no matter the location and I love that you’re able to relate to those times when you were a scout.

But 100% yes! It’s one of my dreams to get to go to American National Parks! Thanks haha :))

2
pitamakanModerator•

Mod here, and also at r/firelookouts, and seven years as a working fire lookout. (We definitely don't call the job a "firewatch.")

When the game first came out I was super-excited to see it, and I'm still really pleased that it exists, and continues to give a little bit of popular attention to my obscure summer job. That said, as the years have gone by I've gotten less excited about the way the game portrayed it all. A lot of the visuals are not only gorgeous, but obviously well-researched, and the way the game crafted the two lookout towers is both evocative and surprisingly accurate. Beyond that, though, there are a lot of fundamental misrepresentations, some clearly necessary for the plot but others maybe not. It would take way more than a Reddit paragraph to explain it, but I think game's creators wrongly assumed that the job itself was pointless and boring, and didn't bother to show enough of its richness (beyond just the visuals) because they were so focused on the conspiracy theory plot lines. The game is pretty compelling as it is, but it could have been even more so if they'd thought about some of that stuff more.

Not sure if that makes sense or not, but ... there ya go. :)

17
ja2keCampo Santo•

I feel like Nels cursed us all by tossing off a remark that the job was boring in the commentary! I think when we made the game we knew we were severely underselling what the real job actually entailed, and that was honestly a painful part of development. In early prototyping we had a lot more actual fire spotting and observation but it ended up taking such a back seat to the plot that we knew we wouldn’t be doing any of those nuts and bolts justice. Also kind of related to this, as development went on we realized that, for better or worse, Henry really didn’t come out there to do the job, and that made it hard to keep wedging it in to what we were asking of players.

I guess I’ll also say that my favorite parts of the game to just exist in are definitely the first half, which were trying to at least encapsulate some sort of universal feeling of the quiet comfort you start to feel when you’re out in a remote place for a long time by yourself. I’ve only ever really experienced that when backpacking, and therefore can’t really speak to being out there for a job, but even being out in the middle of nowhere with NO agenda or job is constantly engaging, so I would have to assume the combo of that plus a very unique job would be anything but dull.

If you’re ever interested I’d love to talk to you about this all more sometime. (Also sorry for being over a week late to this thread.)

2
Blckbry•

In the game they are only referred to as lookouts, firewatch is just the title.

1
thestarfox87•

How is being a fire lookout overall? After playing this game I've been thinking about what it would actually be like and it honestly seems like something I'd like but idk.

1
pitamakanModerator•

Well, I've done it for seven years, so it's definitely a pretty good fit for me. :)

It's mostly quiet and introspective, a chance to get to intimately know a little piece of the world, and to know yourself better, too. But at the same time, there's surprisingly not a shortage of stuff to do ...

2
thestarfox87•

I honestly adore the idea of a few months of just nothing but my crazy ass thoughts/s and some animals to keep me company no drama no life just trees and a little zen away from this crazy ass world

2
pitamakanModerator•

Yep, I'm not sure I could live that way all year round ... but for a season, it's amazingly good. And I think it's good for me, too ...

2
HatchlingChibi•

I remember in some interview or maybe it was the audio tour, they interviewed a lady who had been a fire lookout while making the game to get more info from someone who experienced it first hand. Apparently she couldn’t figure out while they were making a game from it because she said “that was the most boring time in my life!”

10
pitamakanModerator•

I see comments like that in the media every once in a while, and man ... it honestly baffles me. I've met dozens of former and current working fire lookouts over the years, and hardly any of them would say that -- most of them would honestly tell you that it was the most rewarding experience of their lives, something that often became life-defining.

I think if someone's going to be bored spending a summer in a place like that, it likely means that they've never learned to be comfortable in their own skin, and that's a little unfortunate.

Anyway, rant over. :)

11
HatchlingChibi•

Many people can’t stand being alone and yeah, I think that’s sad. Learning to be content on your own for a bit is a good skill.

Personally I think I’d enjoy a summer job like that as long as I could contact my loved ones every once in a while. I think it could be peaceful!

7
Whollis4444•

Never had the chance to be a fire lookout, but I did provide security for parks, forests and landmarks in Kentucky and Tennessee for a bit. The laid-back vibe is spot on, along with being completely isolated (night shift, especially) and having no way to communicate with coworkers or supervisors without a walkie-talkie and/or phone. Though, from my experience, there’s no Delilah or anything remotely close to that dynamic irl. Just because I could reach my supe’ on the walkie-talkie, it was never done, unless things went wrong. I didn’t want them thinking things were going wrong, so I just didn’t communicate unless they did first.

The towers, their lack of structural upkeep, and having to fix the broken bits yourself, that’s all realistic in my experience. It’s not that no one out there won’t help you, but it’s sort of an unsaid agreement that you shouldn’t bother someone unless you’ve tried fixing the problem yourself. The signage in the booth/tower, the abundance of books and canned foods, it’s all accurate. The only parts the game exaggerated were the dramatic aspects and the relationship dynamic the player had with D, because irl there isn’t much excitement with that type of job. In the beginning of the game, when she kept saying something to the effect of “you’re in for a long, boring summer”, that’s what it’s truly like. If you’re good at not getting bored easily then the job is bearable, but a lot of people aren’t cut out for being isolated for extended periods of time. I sure wasn’t after a few months

5
tpspuddy•

Good post, never thought of the more practical side of the game with Henry's supplies and maintenance. I think the relationship between H and D is suppose to feel different and special though, she mentions that she doesn't talk to the other lookouts like she does to him.

2
pitamakanModerator•

The way that kind of stuff works varies from place to place, but at my forest the lookouts do nearly all the maintenance on the forest's lookout towers. (We have a couple weeks before the fire season starts where we go around to the various towers and take care of major projects.) Most of my supplies get hauled in by pack mule, but I pack stuff in myself, too, and I haul all my drinking water up to the tower myself ...

3
tpspuddy•

That sounds great, thanks. Odd question but who handles the mules? Do they take a bunch of supplies to diff towers in a circuit or just one tower at a time?

1
pitamakanModerator•

The specifics will vary a little depending on the forest or park, but if a forest ranger district has substantial wilderness acreage they'll often have their own packing program, with full-time mule packers. A trip to a lookout and back will almost always take a full day. I'll help load and unload the mules at the lookout, but being an animal packer is a pretty obscure and specialized job requiring skills that I don't have.

Of course, most staffed lookouts these days are accessible by road ... there aren't that many of us who still get their supplies delivered on mules. I feel pretty lucky to still be a part of that tradition.

2
Firewolf420OP•

Thanks for your reply! That's actually something I was interested in, just how much actual radio communication goes on in that job. I'm sure things are a little different these days with cellular networks and computers around.

2
Gnome_Chompskiii•

try looking on r/firelookouts, you're more likely to get an answer there

4
Firewolf420OP•

Of course there's a sub! How cool

1