I'm trying to figure the 'order' of the lens. maybe a 4th order -- judging by the man behind the lens in the first picture?

The red thing could be a red panel so that those seeing the light from a specific direction see RED as a warning. Or it could be a cylinder of red so that everyone sees the light as red.

Obviously the lens does not rotate.

Pretty big body of water behind the light. So it's not a river light. Could be Great Lakes light.