Fire towers have been a feature of the Massachusetts landscape for close to 150 years, and they’re still using the same technology they always did.

One of the first formal fire tower efforts in the country began with construction of a tower in Plymouth in 1880s, according to Dave Celino, chief fire warden for Department of Conservation and Recreation. It’s flat country with an abundance of volatile pitch pine, he said, so forest fires are a threat and an elevated outlook is key to spotting them.

There are 42 active towers in the state now, though many more were in use at one time. The tower on Moores Hill in Goshen was built in 1952. Other states in the region have abandoned their fire tower programs, Celino said, but there was a resurgence in Pennsylvania in recent years after an 8,000-acre fire in the Poconos.

“They took a new look and reinvested in the towers,” he said.

Many states use planes for fire spotting. Celino said Massachusetts tried that in the 1980s but found the towers really work, providing early detection as well as direct communication with local fire departments.

“Fire chiefs value (the towers),” he said. “They’re our customers.”

One recent local example he cited was 31-acre fire in Deerfield. The lookout in the Mount Toby tower picked it up, called out area fire units and probably gained 15 to 20 minutes in response time, he said.

DCR aims to hire 46 seasonal people to work as lookouts, staffing 22 to 24 towers at any one time, Celino said. Goshen, Pelham, Ludlow, Shelburne, Mount Grace and Mount Toby are among the key towers that would be staffed.

Triangulation of fire locations is ideal, but it isn’t always possible, especially when conditions are hazy.

“The technology hasn’t changed,” Celino said. “We still use the same alidade [a sighting instrument] and maps, the same communication.”

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