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Fire lookout · San Luis Obispo County, California

Avenales Lookout - AWS Site

Circa 1942/43 Aircraft Warning Service post on the Los Padres NF, San Luis Obispo County, built and staffed by the Forest Service; register lists it as a former site, removal date unknown.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Former Fire Lookout Sites register gives removal as unknown; the Forest Fire Lookout Association California list marks it gone; no source describes the site now

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

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

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabStandard AWS post structure with a ground cabin and cupolaThe design: Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1942
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,860 ft (872 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Los Padres National Forest; cooperator US Army Ground Observer Corps
Land
Federal land
Location
San Luis Obispo County, California
Coordinates
35.18923, −120.24640
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-avenales-lookout-aws

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1942 BuiltBuilt circa 1942/43 as a standard AWS post; the register's description says constructed in 1942 or 1943Source: firetower.org
  2. 1944 EventThe Aircraft Warning Service it belonged to was deactivated May 29, 1944; no source gives this post's closing dateSource: en.wikipedia.org
  3. No record between 1944 and 2020
  4. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 23, 2020 as US 2042, CA 148; nominated by Brad EellsSource: firetower.org
  5. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Avenales site was a wartime post, not a fire tower in the usual sense.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register describes it as a standard Aircraft Warning Service post, with a ground cabin and a cupola, built in 1942 or 1943.1 The post had two jobs: spotting enemy aircraft and detecting fires.1

The Forest Service built, supplied and staffed the post, and the Army repaid the agency for its costs.1 Operators were to report aircraft activity, and every fire or smoke, to Forest Service dispatch, and the aircraft information was then passed on to the Army.1 The service behind the post was a civilian branch of the Army's Ground Observer Corps, and it was deactivated on May 29, 1944.2

The register gives the removal date as unknown.1 It records the site as registered on April 23, 2020, on the nomination of Brad Eells, under the number US 2042, CA 148.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's California list marks the site as gone.3

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether visitors can reach it.

  1. Avenales Lookout - AWS Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/avenales-lookout-aws-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Aircraft Warning Service, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_warning_service (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. California Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Avenales Lookout - AWS Site - Circa 1942/43
Avenales Lookout - AWS Site - Circa 1942/43 (1942)Photo: USFS - Craig R. Carey Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: wartime use, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.