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Fire lookout · Elmore County, Alabama

Redland Fire Lookout Tower

100-foot Aermotor fire tower in Elmore County, Alabama; Register says it is now a radio relay station. Build year conflicts (1949 field, 1948 description); no staffing or access sources.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor towerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1949
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
547 ft (167 m)
Agency
Elmore County Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Elmore County, Alabama
Coordinates
32.52120, −86.13170
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-redland

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

Downloads about 3.2 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1949 BuiltBuilt field on the NHLR page gives 1949. The NHLR description says the Alabama Forestry Commission constructed it in 1948 (see resolved_conflicts).Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1949 and 2009
  3. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 22, 2009 as US 775, AL 8; nominated by Thomas KaufmannSource: nhlr.org
  4. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Redland Fire Lookout Tower stands in Elmore County, Alabama, and the Elmore County Commission is listed as its administrator.1 The Register describes it as a 100-foot Aermotor tower.1

The build year is unsettled.1 The Register's Built field gives 1949, but its description says the Alabama Forestry Commission constructed the tower in 1948.1 The Register does not explain the gap, so this story reports both years. Thomas Kaufmann, who nominated Redland to the Register, has also written that the Aermotor MC-39 was the most common steel lookout model in Alabama's forests.1,2 The sources do not say whether Redland is an MC-39.1,2

Nothing I read says who staffed the tower or what fires it watched.1,2 Kaufmann says that after a lookout was no longer manned, the tower stayed up and was later fitted with antennas for communications.2 That fits the tower's current use, though the Register does not say when its radio use began.1

The Register says the tower currently serves as a radio relay site.1 It lists the Elmore County Commission as administrator and names the Alabama Forestry Commission only as the builder. The sources do not say when or how the tower changed hands.1

The Register is the only tower-specific source I found, and it does not say whether the public can climb the tower.1 Kaufmann warns that many of the state's surviving towers are dangerous and illegal to climb, so please do not climb this one.2 Check with the Elmore County Commission before planning any visit.1

  1. Redland Fire Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/redland-fire-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Thomas Kaufmann, "Keeping Alabama's historic lookout towers," 1819 News, https://1819news.com/news/item/thomas-kaufmann-keeping-alabamas-historic-lookout-towers (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Redland Fire Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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