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Fire lookout · Fresno County, California

Black Mountain Lookout (Fresno County)

Also known as Black Mountain

Fresno County lookout: built by the CCC in 1934 for Sierra NF, run by the state from 1952, with its original BC-301 cab; current access not found.

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 towerBC-301 cab on a 20-foot steel towerThe design: BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
3,599 ft (1,097 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - Fresno Kings Unit (Cal Fire FKU)
Land
Federal land
Location
Fresno County, California
Coordinates
37.01310, −119.45226
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-black-mountain-fresno-county

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. 1933 EventNewspaper reports a federal fire lookout station planned at Camp Clan on top of Black Mountain, with a road to be builtSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 BuiltBuilt by the CCC for the Sierra National Forest; a May 1935 newspaper item says the stations were completed the summer beforeSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1952
  4. 1952 StaffedCalifornia Department of Forestry assumed sole operation of the lookout; a November 1952 newspaper item says the state was going to operate a lookout thereSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1952 and 2019
  6. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 19, 2019 as US 1314, CA 137Source: nhlr.org
  7. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Black Mountain Lookout in Fresno County stands on Black Mountain at about 3,600 feet, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Fresno Kings Unit, known as Cal Fire FKU, administers it.1

The lookout was planned in late 1933. A Fresno paper reported that a federal fire lookout station would go on top of the mountain at Camp Clan, and that a road would be built to the site.2 By May 1935 the same paper said three new stations, finished by the Civilian Conservation Corps the summer before, were ready for use, including this one south of Auberry, where state and forest services would both watch for fires.2 The Register gives 1934 as the build year and says the Civilian Conservation Corps built it for the Sierra National Forest.1

The tower is 20-foot steel and carries a BC-301 cab.1,2 The two sources differ on the living space. An undated note on the Forest Lookouts page describes a two-story prefabricated cab with the living quarters below the observation room.2 The Register says a room beneath the cab was added soon after 1952.1

The state took over the lookout in 1952. The Register says the department assumed sole operation that year.1 A November 1952 Fresno paper reports that a deputy state forester sent back, unsigned, a form from Sacramento that proposed a federal contract for Black Mountain. He blamed a typographical error: the state itself was going to operate a lookout there, and someone had dropped the word lookout from the form.2

The Register says the stairway was recently replaced with a nearly free-standing structure beside the tower, and that this changes how the site looks a great deal. It also calls this the only L-SOl in the state's fire detection system with its original BC-301 cab, a label the Register does not explain.1 The description carries a 1991 credit, so "recently" may refer to the early 1990s rather than to the 2019 listing.1

The Register recorded the lookout on October 19, 2019.1 The sources read do not say whether it is staffed, used for detection now, or open to visitors.1,2 Anyone visiting should not climb a state fire tower without permission.

  1. Black Mountain Lookout (Fresno County), National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/black-mountain-lookout-fresno-county/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Black Mountain, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/black-mountain2.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Black Mountain Lookout - Fresno County
Black Mountain Lookout - Fresno CountyPhoto: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Black Mountain Lookout (Fresno County)
Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Black Mountain Lookout (Fresno County)
Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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. 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 LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, ownership, 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.