Hi, signal fires were certainly a thing, in many places around the world. Check out this post, which includes links to a few more
.. and a couple of more recent posts
How effective was the Great Wall of China after its completion? - this long discussion of the Great Wall includes a few comments on signal fires, by /u/bigbluepanda
Did smoke signals ever exist? - /u/iwinagin gives a few scattered examples
There was some sort of system in place in the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the late 8th century BCE. We have recovered some letters (known as the Lachish Letters) from the city of Lachish, whose destruction was immortalized by Sennacherib in the reliefs of his palace at Nineveh.
It doesn't appear from the text to have been used in quite the same way, but it did certainly warn of impending attacks. Two cities are close enough together to see signal fires between the two, Azekah and Lachish. This letter was written from Lachish describing the feeling in the city of impending doom. They know the Assyrian army is coming, and they are watching the smoke-signals of Azekah, which is the only town standing between them and the massive army of invaders. Here's the letter:
“May Yahweh cause my lord to hear reports of good news this very day. And now, according to all that my lord sent thus your servant has done. I have written upon the tablet according to all that [you] have sent to me. And with respect to what my lord sent concerning the matter of Beth-Harapid, there is no man there. As for Semakyahu, Shemayahu has seized him and taken him up to the city. Your servant cannot send the witness there today; rather, it is during the morning tour that [he will come (to you)]. Then it will be known that we are watching the (fire)-signals of Lachish according to the code which my lord gave us, for we cannot see Azekah."
Azekah's signal has died out, signifying that the city has been annihilated. Lachish is next, and is attending to their signal fire to make sure others know the status of Lachish and the progress of the Assyrian army.
There was a system of beacons on the south coast of England during the Anglo-Saxon period, although not a huge amount of work has been done on them compared to other aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture/society such as churches and settlements.
Here is an example of a toponymic survey and view-shed analysis done in 2013 on a relatively restricted area in Dorset and Hampshire.
Unfortunately my memory has failed me on the name of the site, but there is a site on Salisbury Plain, near the Ridgeway, which has been interpreted as a possible beacon due to evidence of a large area of burning within an enclosure and without evidence of permanent occupation/settlement. However, the only paper on the site was cautious about interpreting it as a beacon (I would like to find the paper and link it, however I no longer have access to JSTOR etc).
EDIT: Clarity etc (my grasp of English appears to be horrible this morning)
Similar system was used in Carniola in times when Turks were invading those lands.
System is explained in book History of Carniola starts at page 68 https://books.google.si/books?id=ZZNeht6hpTcC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA69&dq=fires+signal+turks+Slovenia&source=bl&ots=nUKbCrw4-y&sig=aCMTL7hyEfkcx7DghMtliFYe2CQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJifPpxYTNAhWDnBoKHULgC-gQ6AEIDTAB#v=onepage&q&f=false
