After the Panther Creek fire tower was vandalized last fall, it was closed down for public use and has yet to be reopened. Local resident Zac Ferrell has gathered more than 700 signatures asking for the structure to remain standing and presented a petition to Daviess County Fiscal Court, hoping the future of the fire tower could be changing.
For Ferrell, the fire tower has a special attachment, as he’s seen it for several years since he was a teenager using the Panther Creek baseball diamond. As he got older, especially during the pandemic, Ferrell used the tower on his runs through the trails as a “great burnout” to his workout.
At the top of the tower, Ferrell remembers being able to see the surrounding area extremely well.
“You can see everything from the east and north horizon all the way to the river, and it’s just not something that you can really get anywhere else in Daviess County,” Ferrell said.
That is in part due to the fact that the fire tower is one of few still standing for public access in Kentucky.
Ferrell is actively going out to the park and has gathered more than 500 physical signatures to go along with over 250 signatures on the digital petition. He’s also been talking to different elected officials.
When he presented to Fiscal Court on June 16, the commissioners decided to look into how to preserve the tower. However, Ferrell thinks it was the meeting on June 30 when Fiscal Court saw the importance of the tower to the community.
Ferrell said during the meeting, about 10 people in the Facebook Live comments were asking for the fire tower to be reopened.
“They really lit a fire I think because the Judge-Executive brought it up in the second meeting, which happened the very next day,” Ferrell said.
For now, Judge-Executive Al Mattingly said Fiscal Court is trying to find an engineer to inspect the tower.
According to Ferrell, State Senator Matt Castlen is also behind keeping the fire tower up. Ferrell hopes the Court can come together and talk about a decision on how they will make some improvements on the tower.
“We want to have this thing out here for generations to enjoy,” Ferrell said. “We don’t want to just be locked up and lonely.”
