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Fire lookout · Napa County, California

Berryessa Peak Lookout Site

Napa County lookout on Berryessa Peak, built 1948 (CDF 809R design), destroyed by the Rumsey Fire in October 2004; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed by the Rumsey Fire in October 2004; register lists it as removed in 2004

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
Enclosed towerCDF 809R design, 30-foot K-brace enclosed steel towerThe design: CDF 809R
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1948
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
3,057 ft (932 m)
Agency
Disputed: U.S. Forest Service per the Former Fire Lookout Sites register; California Department of Forestry (CAL FIRE) per West Lookouts and Wikipedia
Land
Federal land
Location
Napa County, California
Coordinates
38.66389, −122.19049
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-berryessa-peak

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 its recorded height.

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. 1948 BuiltBuilt 1948 per the Former Fire Lookout Sites register; dedication ceremony June 1948 per a California Division of Forestry photographSources: firetower.org, archive.org
  2. No record between 1948 and 2004
  3. 2004 BurnedCompletely lost to wildfire in northern California.Source: firelookout.org
  4. 2004 DestroyedLookout destroyed by the Rumsey Fire in October 2004 (register, FFLA western report, and newspaper quoted by West Lookouts)Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.org
  5. 2004 FireRumsey Fire burned October 10 to 16, 2004 and destroyed 39,138 acres; officials confirmed arsonSource: en.wikipedia.org
  6. 2004 RemovedRegister records the lookout as removed in 2004Source: firetower.org
  7. 2018 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 8, 2018 as US 1736, CA 21Source: firetower.org
  8. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

A lookout stood on Berryessa Peak in Napa County, at 3,057 feet, east of Lake Berryessa.1,2 The register dates it to 1948.1 An Internet Archive photograph from the California Division of Forestry collection shows the crowd at its dedication ceremony in June 1948.3

The register calls it a CDF 809R design, a 30-foot K-brace steel tower with an enclosed cab.1 The register says it was one of only four towers of its kind, and that only two of the four survive.1 The register lists the U.S. Forest Service as administrator.1 West Lookouts files it under the California Department of Forestry, and Wikipedia calls it the CAL FIRE Berryessa lookout tower.2,4

The Rumsey Fire burned from October 10 to 16, 2004, and officials said it was arson.4 A Ukiah Daily Journal report, quoted by West Lookouts, says the fire destroyed the lookout as it moved toward Lake Berryessa.2 A 2004 Forest Fire Lookout Association western-region report also says the lookout was completely lost to wildfire.5

The register dates the lookout's destruction to 2004 and names the Rumsey Fire as the cause.1

No source I read describes what, if anything, is left of the lookout today, or whether the public can visit the site.

  1. Berryessa Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/berryessa-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Berryessa Peak, Forest Lookouts, West Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/berryessa-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Berryessa Peak Lookout dedication, Napa, 1948, Internet Archive (California Division of Forestry collection), https://archive.org/details/casbcfm_000140 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Rumsey Fire, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumsey_Fire (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association, Western Region report, 2004, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-wd-2004.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Berryessa Peak Lookout - 1948 Dedication
Berryessa Peak Lookout - 1948 Dedication (1948)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Berryessa Peak Lookout Site
Photo: rntl,net, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
809R Cabin
809R CabinPhoto: rntl.net, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Rumsey Fire - October 2004
Rumsey Fire - October 2004 (2004)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Berryessa Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Wildfire Today, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Berryessa Peak Lookout Site
Photo: rntl.net, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Berryessa Peak Lookout Site
Photo: rntl.net, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Berryessa Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Cal Fire, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. 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

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