pWATERTOWN — Renovations of the fire tower at the New York State Zoo at Thompson Park have been completed, the zoo said./ppPrior to the recent opening, the zoo’s tower has been off-limits to the general public since 2011./ppIt was opened in April to coincide with their Earth Day celebration./ppThe four-story, 55-foot-tall tower, a href="http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news03/new-york-state-zoo-at-thompson-park-hopes-to-reopen-fire-tower-closed-since-2011-20160412"originally known as the New Boston Fire Tower, first resided at Lookout State Forest in Lewis County/a./ppThe tower was built by the state Department of Environmental Conservation in 1950, and was in use for spotting forest fires in the Tug Hill region until its decommissioning in 1981. The Aermotor L5-40 model fire tower was then moved to a DEC facility in Harrisville. It was placed on loan from the DEC to the zoo in 1999, with reconstruction taking approximately three years./ppThe zoo’s work was supported by a $500 donation from the Firetower Lookout Association, along with $100 donated by the Adirondack Hiking Club./ppThe zoo had originally anticipated the work finishing by the end of June./p
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