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Fire lookout · Tulare County, California

Blue Ridge Lookout Site (Tulare County)

Also known as Blue Ridge

Tulare County, CA cooperative lookout built 1930 on Blue Ridge; lifted off the mountain in 2010, restored, and displayed at the Tulare County Fairgrounds.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at the Tulare County Fairgrounds

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Lifted off its mountain in 2010; now displayed at the Tulare County Fairgrounds, where sources differ on whether the tower or only the cab is shown

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Displayed at the Tulare County Fairgrounds; opened to visitors during the county fair in 2011 and 2024. No regular hours found in the sources read. Public access to the summit is not described.

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

Facts

Status
Moved
Type
Cab on a tower60-foot open steel Aermotor tower with 7x7 observation cab (FFLOS); cab modified in 1960The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1930
Height
75 ft (22.9 m)
Elevation
5,731 ft (1,747 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Tulare Unit (CAL FIRE TUU); jointly erected with the Forest Service (FFLOS)
Land
Unknown
Location
Tulare County, California
Coordinates
36.28694, −118.83968
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-blue-ridge-tulare-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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at 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. 1930 BuiltJointly erected by the Forest Service and CDF as a cooperative lookout; 60-foot open steel towerSources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1931 EventResidence constructed on the site; station officially dedicated May 24, 1931Source: firetower.org
  3. 1932 EventGarage builtSource: firetower.org
  4. No record between 1932 and 1960
  5. 1960 AlteredCab modification (Plan No. 828)Source: firetower.org
  6. No record between 1960 and 2010
  7. 2010 MovedLifted off its mountain site in May after a four-year effort and taken to CAL-Fire headquarters in Visalia for full restoration before going to the county fairgrounds.Source: firelookout.org
  8. 2010 RemovedLifted off its mountain in May 2010 after a four-year effort; taken to CAL FIRE headquarters in Visalia for full restorationSources: firetower.org, firelookout.org
  9. 2011 MovedRestored tower placed at the Tulare County Fairgrounds; opened to visitors during the October 2011 county fairSource: firelookout.org
  10. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: April 13, 2020Source: FFLOS register entry
  11. 2024 EventBuck Rock Foundation and CAL FIRE opened the lookout during the county fair with staff and tours of the decommissioned lookout on displaySource: buckrock.org
  12. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to the Tulare County Fairgrounds.Source: FFLA
  13. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from.

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 Blue Ridge lookout went up in 1930 on a mountain in Tulare County, California.1,2 A December 1930 newspaper report places it east of Exeter.2 A 2017 article places it 15 miles east of Springville, so the sources do not agree on the landmark.3

The Forest Service and the state forestry department (CDF) put it up together as a cooperative lookout.1 The register describes a 60-foot open steel Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7 observation cab.1 The 1930 report gave the planned height as 60 feet, but an April 1931 report said the structure rose seventy feet above its base.2 The residence was built in 1931.1 The station was dedicated on May 24 that year.1 The garage followed in 1932, and the cab was modified in 1960.1

The sources I read name no notable fires at this lookout and describe no regular staffing after the early years. In 1931 a state ranger tested night signaling from the tower to the forest service headquarters in Porterville, using a gasoline lantern.2 The only later staffing they mention came at the 2024 county fair.4

The tower was lifted off its mountain in May 2010, after what a Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter report called a four-year process.5 CAL FIRE had planned to remove it until local enthusiasts stepped in, and the Buck Rock Foundation worked to save it.5,3 The tower went to CAL FIRE headquarters in Visalia for full restoration.5 After restoration, the tower went to the Tulare County Fairgrounds, which welcomed visitors during the October 2011 county fair.6

Today the lookout is not on its mountain.1 The sources disagree on how much is on display. A 2017 article says the building is on permanent display at the fairgrounds,3 while the register entry says only the cabin is shown at ground level.1 In 2024 the Buck Rock Foundation and CAL FIRE again opened the lookout during the fair and gave tours.4 Outside the fair, I found no regular hours. As for the summit, the register entry, marked "MVT 10/91," says neither the house nor the garage has suffered significant loss of integrity.1 No source I read says whether they still stand. The same entry calls the summit an intensively used communications site, and nothing I read says whether the public may visit it.1

  1. Blue Ridge Lookout Site (Tulare County), Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/blue-ridge-lookout-site-tulare-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Blue Ridge, Forest Lookouts (newspaper transcriptions, Fresno Bee, 1930-1931), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/blue-ridge1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Preserving our parks' fire lookouts, The Sun-Gazette, https://thesungazette.com/article/lifestyles/2017/03/29/preserving-our-parks-fire-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Volunteer News, Buck Rock Foundation, https://buckrock.org/category/volunteer-news/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. California Sierra Nevada Chapter annual report 2010, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ca-sn-nevada-2010.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. California Sierra Nevada Chapter annual report 2011, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ca-sn-nevada-2011.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Blue Ridge Lookout - 1994
Blue Ridge Lookout - 1994 (1994)Photo: Mark Swift Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Circa 1950's
Circa 1950's (1950)Photo: Cal Fire Museum, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Residence Cabin
Residence CabinPhoto: Cal Fire Museum, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Blue Ridge Lookout Site (Tulare County)
Photo: Cal Fire Museum, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Blue Ridge Lookout Site (Tulare County)
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Blue Ridge Lookout Site (Tulare County)
Photo: 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, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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 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, status, agency, access, 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.