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Fire lookout · Santa Clara County, California

Loma Prieta Lookout

Loma Prieta's 1927 wooden lookout gave way to a 1934 steel tower, removed around 1976. A recent state notice describes a communications tower complex there.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The lookout was removed around 1976. A recent state notice describes a communications tower complex at Loma Prieta.

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 towerUS Forest Service BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot enclosed K-brace steel tower (1934)The design: BC-301
Built of
Steel
Built
1927
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
3,795 ft (1,157 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire SCU)
Land
Unknown
Location
Santa Clara County, California
Coordinates
37.11099, −121.84398
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-loma-prieta

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 3.1 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. 1927 BuiltWooden station and tower; lumber donated by the Monterey Bay Redwood companySources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 AlteredNewspaper reports a 60-foot tower completed, with living quarters; the report calls it the first tower on the summitSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 StaffedJames Sharp of Burwell named to be in charge of the towerSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1934 Built'Built' field on FFLOS detail pageSource: FFLOS register entry
  5. 1934 Replaced by a new structureState leased an acre and planned a new station to replace the obsolete wooden tower; register dates the BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot steel tower to 1934Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1934 StaffedJames Sharpe, lookout at the stationSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1935 ClosedTower closed for the winter seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1935 and 1976
  9. 1976 RemovedRegister says removal may have been circa 1976Source: firetower.org
  10. No record between 1976 and 2019
  11. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites registerSource: firetower.org
  12. 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.

The Loma Prieta lookout stood on the summit of Loma Prieta, at 3,795 feet in Santa Clara County.1

The first station went up in 1927 as a wooden tower.1 The Monterey Bay Redwood company donated the lumber.2 The state forestry commission promised to pay a full-time lookout through the fire season.2

A 1933 Santa Cruz newspaper reported a 60-foot tower completed on the summit, along with living quarters.2 Before that, the report said, the lookout had been forced to live in a tent, and James Sharp of Burwell was to be in charge.2 The same report called it the first tower ever placed on Loma Prieta, which does not square with the 1927 accounts.2

In October 1934 a plan called for a 35-foot steel tower and said the old wooden tower would be dismantled.2 In late 1934 the Division of Forestry leased an acre of land on Loma Prieta from the Monterey Bay Redwood Company and said a new station would replace the outdated structure.2 The register describes the 1934 structure as a US Forest Service BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot enclosed steel tower.1

James Sharpe was the lookout at the station in April 1934.2 In December 1935 the tower shut for the winter.2

The register says the lookout may have been removed around 1976.1

A recent state notice about fuel clearing describes a Loma Prieta communication tower complex, and it names Mount Umunhum Road and Loma Prieta Road as roads near the work.3 No source we read says what, if anything, of the 1934 lookout remains, or whether the summit is open to visitors.

  1. Loma Prieta Lookout, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/loma-prieta-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Loma Prieta, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/loma-prieta.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Loma Prieta Communication Tower Wildfire Protection, CEQAnet, https://ceqanet.lci.ca.gov/2026060578 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Loma Prieta Lookout - 1968
Loma Prieta Lookout - 1968 (1968)Photo: Zack Snyder, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
September 1940
September 1940 (1940)Photo: Santa Cruz Sentinel, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
August 1927
August 1927 (1927)Photo: Santa Cruz Evening News, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
January 1935
January 1935 (1935)Photo: Santa Cruz Evening News, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1954
1954 (1954)Photo: Santa Cruz Sentinel, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
September 1949
September 1949 (1949)Photo: Santa Cruz Sentinel, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Circa 1960
Circa 1960 (1960)Photo: Jim Coolidge, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Late 1940's
Late 1940's (1940)Photo: Ken Johnson Collection, 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, 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: 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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

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