set in england in the 50s fire observation tower

Gazing from one hundred feet above the boreal forest, Fire Tower draws us into the lookouts’ world: a critical line of defense in wildfire detection; inviting us to contemplate how solitude inspires a different connection with nature, community and our creativity.

The filmmakers experience working at the fire tower on Hammonds Plains Road in Halifax in the summer of 1975

This film documents the transformation of a derelict fire station into studio and living spaces for artists. The opening of the restored building is celebrated in performances and installations by its new occupants. In common with Raban’s films that reflect upon different aspects of the changing face of London’s East End, this tightly structured film-poem confronts the present with the past: the building’s war-time role is recalled in archival images, and by women who served in it as Auxiliary Fire Service officers.