In April of 2016 I joined the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) and became, at the time, their youngest member. FFLA members are typically much older, so as I started to make a name for myself (I immediately started emailing chapter directors and researching) there was a common misconception-which I did little to dissuade-that I was a middle-aged man with a career in fire prevention.
When I first met people from the organization in person in September 2016 at a conference in New York State, they were understandably a little shocked to find out that I was actually 13. It was as crazy for me as it was for them. Additionally, as a fairly left-leaning gay young man incredibly active in the FFLA, I'm happy to add diversity to an organization that historically hasn't had a large amount of it. Jack Kelley at the first fire tower he visited in Shelburne, Massachusetts February 2016 (left) and back at the same tower in February 2021.
Now, five years in, I've visited 239 fire towers in 16 different U.S. States, but back in 2016 I didn't really give much thought to geography or the wider world.
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