Fire lookout · Santa Barbara County, California
Figueroa Mountain Lookout
Los Padres lookout in Santa Barbara County; its 1965 cab is stripped and vandalized, unstaffed, and a 2025 refurbishment project is suspended.
- Standing
- Restricted access
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Restricted access
Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. The 2020 register visit found the approach road behind a locked gate. A Forest Service page lists the adjacent day-use site as open daily and year-round, which the two sources do not reconcile.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Not staffed (as of 2020)
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Two-story buildingCurrent structure: 13 by 13 foot CL-100 metal cab on a 12 foot concrete block base, installed 1965The designs: CL-100, C-3
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1965
- Height
- 500 ft (152.4 m)
- Elevation
- 4,480 ft (1,366 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Santa Barbara County, California
- Coordinates
- 34.74368, −119.98472
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-figueroa-mountain
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 3.0 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
- 1917 MovedForest Service lookout station moved from Zaca Peak to the summit of Figueroa MountainSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1922 EventConstruction of a new station begun; a newspaper said the planned building would be mostly glass; completion not confirmed in sources readSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1926 StaffedZolla Ontiveros in charge of the lookout on Figueroa Mountain (December 1926 item)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1929 StaffedZ. A. Ontiveros left for the summer season as lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1931 StaffedZollo Ontiveros began his 15th consecutive year as lookout (June 1931 item)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1939 StaffedWilliam Green announced as starting lookout; last staffing item in the history page readSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1939 and 1965
- 1965 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
- 1965 Replaced by a new structureOriginal C3 cab on a timber tower replaced by a 13 by 13 foot CL-100 metal cab on a 12 foot concrete block baseSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1965 and 2010
- 2010 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 19, 2010; nominated by Brad EellsSource: nhlr.org
- 2020 Condition assessmentNovember 11, 2020 register visit: windows broken, furnishings destroyed, door secured with a chain, debris cleared by the Forest ServiceSource: nhlr.org
- 2022 Condition assessmentNovember 9, 2022 inspection with the acting district ranger; discussed refurbishingSource: firelookout.org
- 2025 Condition assessmentJanuary 21, 2025 on-site meeting with the district ranger and archaeologists about refurbishing the stripped-out cab; project suspendedSource: firelookout.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Figueroa Mountain Lookout stands on the summit of Figueroa Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest, Santa Barbara County, at about 4,480 feet (1,366 meters).1,2 The Forest Service moved its lookout station there from Zaca Peak in 1917.2 A lookout named Zollo Ontiveros, whom the papers also call Z. A. Ontiveros, worked the lookout from at least 1926 to 1931.2
According to the register, the first cab was a C3 cab on a timber tower.1 In 1922 newspapers reported that work had begun on a new station with a building largely of glass, and an August 1922 item said it was hoped to finish the station that year. The sources we read do not confirm when it was finished.2 The register says the cab was replaced in 1965 by a 13-by-13-foot CL-100 metal cab on a 12-foot concrete block base.1
The last staffing item in the history we read is a 1939 notice that William Green would start as lookout.2 The register says the station has been unstaffed since it closed, presumably in the 1970s.1
The register was accepted on June 19, 2010, after a nomination by Brad Eells.1 At its November 2020 visit, the register's reviewer found the windows broken and the furnishings destroyed. The Forest Service had cleared debris from inside and secured the door with a chain.1
In November 2022 the report's author and Mike Guerin met the acting district ranger at the lookout to inspect it and discuss refurbishing.3 In January 2025 the report's author met District Ranger Benjamin Gray and three archaeologists on site about refurbishing the stripped-out cab.4 The report says that meeting fell on Inauguration Day, when executive orders to cut back the federal workforce were issued that same afternoon, and that staffers did not return messages after that day.4 The project is listed as suspended.4
Today the Forest Service lists a day-use site beside the lookout as open daily and year-round, though it may close in winter because of wet weather.5 The access road is dirt.5 From Highway 154 it is 13 miles north on Figueroa Mountain Road.5 The register's 2020 visit found the approach road behind a locked gate, so the two sources do not agree on access.1,5 When the register visited, the cab's furnishings were gone and its door was secured with a chain.1 The Forest Service page describes the adjacent site but does not say the tower is open to visitors.5
- Figueroa Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/figueroa-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Figueroa Mountain, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/figueroa-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- California-South chapter report, 2022, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ca-south-2022.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Cal-South 2025 Annual Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association California-South Chapter, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/cr-cal-south-2025.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Figueroa Lookout Day Use, Los Padres National Forest, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/lospadres/recreation/figueroa-lookout-day-use (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages (opens another site) Gave us: register numbers, links FFLA chapters and Friends groups (each link names the group) · Links to the groups' own pages; facts only from the California-South chapter's tower table (register page, operator, condition). No text or photos reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, staffing, 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
- NHLR register entry US 881 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- California-South chapter report, 2022 (Forest Fire Lookout Association) (opens another site)
- Figueroa Lookout Day Use (Los Padres National Forest, USDA Forest Service) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: work on Figueroa Mountain Lookout (opens another site)
- FFLA California-South chapter: Southern California lookouts (opens another site)
- Figueroa Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.