Yes, and in multiple places. More can be said if anyone would like to contribute on signal beacons, so if you want to indulge the intersection of your pyromania and historical interest, please feel free to write up a post! For the meantime, OP, this previous thread has contributions from u/BRIStoneman on signal beacons in Anglo-Saxon England, while u/y_sengaku has a collection of more previous threads about beacons for you to chew on.
I can say the system was also well-developed and organized in Habsburg monarchy as a messaging system against Ottoman raids in late fifteenth and became fully functional in the first half of the sixteenth century, and one such system I am familiar with was in Carniola ( nowadays Slovenia ):
In the picture one will find one branch where beacons where used. But the communications where much more intricate and complex, accompanied by cannon shots that further specified the nature of the situation. Beacons were in proximity of either castles, fortified churches, or larger farms ( called kašče ), so the maintenance was not that of an issue ( it was under regional authority ), but also, there was an official regional watch.
About the nature of those messages:
- 2 cannon shots: gathering of Ottoman troops ( The message would have been relayed from lower parts of the monarchy, nowadays Croatia, and there was a network of spies and watchers ). This also signaled the mobilization of cavalry and meeting in the before-specified places.
- 3 cannon shots: Ottoman troops already on the move, and regional mobilization under offne General, which also issued the extent of mobilization.
- 4 cannon shots and fire beacons: When the Ottomans were already sighted.
4 extra cannon shots ( without accompanying fire ) were issued if the mobilization was expected to last more than 8 days, and for Carniola, the place was Ljubljana. At this point, general populace would seek shelter, in most places that would be fortified churches or walled-cities.
For Carniola, the beacons were present, for those interested looking up on Google maps.
Lower Carniola quarter: Mehovo, Raka, Hmeljnik, Boštanj, Primskovo, Žužemberk, Sumberk, Višnja gora, Ljubljana;
Middle Carniola quarter: Vinica, Poljane, Črnomelj, Meitlika, Kostel, Fridrihštejn pri Kočevju, Ribnica, Lož, Ortnek, Turjak, Ig, Ljubljana;
Coastal-Karst: Gerovo, Klana,'* Učka, Lisac, Gotnik (Gutnek), Šilentabor, Postojna, Hošperk pri Planini, Vrhnika, Ljubljana;
Upper Carniola quarter: Ljubljana, Sv. Nikolaj nad Savo v moravski fari. Stari grad nad Kamnikom, Šmarna gora, Šmarjetna gora, Sv. Peter pri Radovljici, grad na Bledu, Bela peč.
( Sv. -- Saint, grad -- castle, gora -- hill or mountain )
Yes, that system has been in use. In Sweden they are called "vårdkasar" and it was the duty of the local population to in times of tension man the prepared positions and light the fire should enemy forces be sighted. If the "vårdkase" was located close to the village which handled it, the work was usually maintained by two men keeping watch for a number of days, before being replaced by two other men.
As an example, the "vårdkase" on toop of Hoverberget in Jämtland 1710, being on alert since Denmark-Norway had declared war and an invasion of Jämtland fron Norwegian Tröndelag was possible was guarded by a total of 43 peasants for 267 days. This "vårdkase" was located far from the village, and the peasants were paid for their duty.
The system was in place from early Medieval times up until the telegraph replaced it.
Last time the system was used was in 1854, when a large British fleet was sighted outside Vinga (on the western Swedish coast) on its way to attack the Russians in the Baltic Sea as a part of the Crimean War. The presence of such a large fleet that close to the coast was taken as a potential threat, and the fire was lighted. It took nearly 24 hours before the line of fires had been lighted from Vinga to Stockholm, alerting the government.
With the regular post service, which rode daytime and had a fresh horse and rider taking over at fixed places, a letter could be delivered between Göteborg (which is the city closest to Vinga) to Stockholm in about 7 days.
Perhaps a bit ironically, Swedish local defence built "vårdkasar" in 1914 in the aproaches to Stockholm since several of the lookoutlocation did not have access to a phone or telegraph line - in this case the "vårdkase" was only to alert the closest manned location with a telegraph or telephone line. In many cases the landstorm men building "vårdkasar" found the remains of "vårdkasar" from earlier centuries right where they were constructing theirs.