FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Los Angeles County, California

Josephine Peak Lookout Site

Angeles NF lookout on Josephine Peak; built 1935 per register (1936 move from Mount Lukens per another history); burned in 1975 Big Tujunga Fire; footings remain.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned in the 1975 Big Tujunga (Mill) Fire; concrete footings and a small shed remain

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Sources describe visitors walking up to the summit for its views

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Sources describe the summit as a walk-up destination; no route is given

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerRegion 5 Plan BC-301 cab on a short, open timber towerThe designs: BC-301, D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
Wood
Built
1935
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
5,558 ft (1,694 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Angeles National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Los Angeles County, California
Coordinates
34.28562, −118.15387
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-josephine-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 3.5 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. 1935 BuiltRegister Built field; Region 5 Plan BC-301 cab on a short, open timber towerSource: firetower.org
  2. 1936 MovedMount Lukens tower moved to Josephine Peak; conflicts with the register's 1935 dateSource: angelesadventures.com
  3. 1939 StaffedVaughn Turner named as lookout on Mt. JosephineSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1939 and 1960
  5. 1960 FireJet crash on the southern face started a brush fire; 15 or about 20 acres depending on sourceSources: californialookouts.weebly.com, angelesadventures.com
  6. 1960 StaffedPeggy Hotchkiss was the lookout; evacuated by truck because of fire threatSources: californialookouts.weebly.com, angelesadventures.com
  7. 1972 StaffedForest staffed the peak only in periods of extreme fire dangerSource: angelesadventures.com
  8. 1975 BurnedLookout destroyed in the Big Tujunga (Mill) Fire and not replacedSources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com, angelesadventures.com
  9. 1975 Removed'Removed' field on FFLOS detail page: "1975".Source: FFLOS register entry
  10. No record between 1975 and 2019
  11. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: November 3, 2019Source: FFLOS register entry
  12. 2019 EventAngeles NF Fire Lookout Association used the site for fire detection while Vetter Mountain was rebuiltSource: firetower.org
  13. 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.

Josephine Peak rises to 5,558 feet in Los Angeles County, inside the Angeles National Forest.1 The register dates the lookout to 1935 and describes a Region 5 Plan BC-301 design on a short timber tower.1 It also notes that some accounts say the structure came from Mount Lukens, though photos of that lookout suggest an earlier design.1

Another history gives a different date for the move. It says the Mount Lukens tower, standing there since 1923, was relocated to Josephine Peak in 1936 because urban smog had disrupted visibility for fire detection.2 The sources disagree on the year and the tower's origin, so 1935 should be read as the register's figure rather than a settled one.

Byrd K. Walsh and family were the first lookout staff to live in the glassed-in tower.2 A 1939 newspaper item, quoted on a lookout history site, named Vaughn Turner as the lookout on Mt. Josephine.3 In 1960 a jet crashed on the mountain's southern face and started a brush fire, killing a Marine captain.2,3 Peggy Hotchkiss, the lookout that year, was evacuated by truck due to the fire danger.3 The sources disagree on the fire's size, one giving 15 acres and the other about 20.3,2

By 1972 smog had greatly reduced visibility, and the forest staffed the peak only when fire danger was extreme. Barney Donaldson was among the last attendants.2

The lookout burned in the 1975 Big Tujunga Fire, also called the Mill Fire, and was not replaced.1,2 All personnel got out safely.3 In 2019 the Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association used the summit for fire detection while the Vetter Mountain lookout was rebuilt.1

Today only the concrete footings of the tower remain, next to a small shed that carries communications masts.2 California's transportation division installed a summit benchmark on a concrete slab a few years after the fire.2 That page says visitors hike up to take in wide views of the Big Tujunga watershed and the Los Angeles basin.2

  1. Josephine Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/josephine-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Josephine Peak Lookout, Angeles Adventures, https://angelesadventures.com/josephine-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Josephine Peak - Forest Lookouts, California Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/josephine-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Josephine Peak Lookout - 1938
Josephine Peak Lookout - 1938 (1938)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Josephine Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association temporary fire detection site - 2019
Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association temporary fire detection site - 2019 (2019)Photo: Kevin Johnson - Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association, 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, 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: 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: 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, status, agency, access, visiting details, 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.