TWIN FALLS -- There's a post open with the U.S. Forest Service for a firespotter.

The person picked for the post will spend the summer at a remote lookout tower near Albion, scanning the horizon for wildfires.

Applicants must be friendly but enjoy solitude, and willing to work five days a week.

But there's a catch -- no paycheck is involved.

The Forest Service used to pay $12.73 an hour for the job at the Mount Harrison fire lookout station but this year they're asking for volunteers instead.

Brian Bishop with the Minidoka Ranger District says that's because of shrinking budgets and the retirement of Jim Sheridan, who manned the station for 20 years.

Spotters use a compass, a map and a radio to spot and report wildfires as far as 52 miles away.