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Fire lookout · Lake County, California

Mount Konocti Lookout

Also known as Konocti, Mt. Konocti (Wright Mountain)

Mount Konocti Lookout, Lake County: relocated 1977, volunteer watches 2015-2019, closed for safety in October 2019; repairs unfunded as of 2021.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Closed to all access by State officials on October 3, 2019 for safety concerns; no later source read says it reopened

Visit & stay

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

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Do not climb; the 2019 closure covered all access. The sources read give no drive-up or trail route.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerSteel X-B tower with a 732-6A cab, similar in design to an Aermotor tower (NHLR gives 45 feet; newspapers give 50 and 75 feet)The designs: Aermotor, CDF 732-6A
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1977
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,302 ft (1,311 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), which owns the tower
Land
Unknown
Location
Lake County, California
Coordinates
38.97462, −122.76584
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-mount-konocti

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 3.4 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. 1977 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  2. 1977 MovedMoved from an Army receiving station to its current site; NHLR lists 1977 as the build year, but no earlier build date appears in sources readSources: nhlr.org, record-bee.com
  3. No record between 1977 and 2015
  4. 2015 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 30, 2015 as NHLR US 1104, CA 107Source: nhlr.org
  5. 2015 StaffedIn August Cal Fire agreed to re-open the lookout on Wright Peak, Lake County, for FFLA volunteer staffing; volunteers were recruited and trained by mid-September.Sources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org, firelookout.org
  6. 2015 First staffedForest Fire Lookout Association volunteers reopened the tower after 12 years out of serviceSource: record-bee.com
  7. 2017 AlteredA donated solar panel was installed to power lights and a microwave, and a new built-in supply cabinet was made and installed in the tower.Source: firelookout.org
  8. 2017 RestoredSeveral windows broken by vandals were all repaired.Source: firelookout.org
  9. 2018 EventFFLA grant of 500 dollars to the Konocti chapter, used to replace rotten wood inside the cab door.Sources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org
  10. 2018 RestoredRotten wood inside the cab door was replaced. Rotted cab flooring replaced using the FFLA grant.Sources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org
  11. 2019 Condition assessmentCal Fire structural inspection found the wood-framed cab in critical need of repair and unsafe for human occupancy; the association dates the inspection to September 26, the 2019 newspaper to October 3Sources: firelookout.org, record-bee.com
  12. 2019 ClosedClosed to all access by State officials on October 3 (association report); the 2019 newspaper says operations were shut down by October 5Sources: firelookout.org, record-bee.com
  13. 2019 EventCal Fire said it was willing to sign over responsibility for the lookout repairs to the associationSource: firelookout.org
  14. 2020 EventCal Fire said no money was set aside for lookouts; repairs unfunded and not expected that fire seasonSource: record-bee.com
  15. 2021 EventCal Fire had not mentioned any concrete repair plans but had told a senator's office the lookout was on its priority listSource: firelookout.org
  16. 2021 StaffedKonocti chapter volunteers kept watch from the top of Wright Peak, in the shadow of the tower, May 3 to November 4: 129 days, 1,168 volunteer hours, 18 smoke reportsSource: firelookout.org
  17. 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.

Mount Konocti Lookout stands on Wright Peak in Lake County, California, at about 4,300 feet.1,2 The steel tower originally stood at an Army receiving station before it was moved to its present site in 1977.1,3 The Register lists 1977 as the build year, and the sources read give no earlier date for the tower.1 The sources also disagree on its height: the Register says 45 feet, a 2019 newspaper said 50 feet, and a 2020 newspaper said 75 feet.1,4,3

The Forest Fire Lookout Association reopened the tower in 2015, after a 12-year gap, and the Register recorded it that August.4,1 Volunteers reported dozens of "first reports," meaning they were often the first to report smoke to fire personnel.4 The Valley Fire broke out during the association's first training meeting at the tower.4

A Cal Fire structural inspection in late September 2019 found the wood-framed cab badly in need of repair and unsafe for people to occupy.5 The association's report says the tower was closed to all access on October 3, while the 2019 newspaper dates the inspection to October 3 and says operations stopped by October 5.5,4 Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jake Hannan said people could not safely be inside it.4 The damage reported included the concrete base, the beams that hold the cab up, and the floor and roof.3

The association's 2019 report says Cal Fire was willing to transfer responsibility for the repairs to the association.5 By June 2020 Cal Fire said no money was set aside for lookouts, and the association's regional director said repairs were not expected that season.3 A 2021 report says Cal Fire had not mentioned any concrete repair plans but had told Senator McGuire's office that the lookout was on its priority list.2

In 2021 the Konocti chapter kept watch from atop Wright Peak, close by the tower, from May 3 to November 4, logging 129 days and 1,168 volunteer hours.2

The sources read do not show that the tower reopened after the 2019 closure, and its condition today is unknown. The last source read is from 2021. Visitors should not climb it, since the closure covered all access.5

  1. Mount Konocti Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/mount-konocti-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association California-Pacific chapter report, 2021, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ca-pacific-2021.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Konocti fire tower repairs still unfunded, cost estimate unknown, Lake County Record-Bee, https://www.record-bee.com/2020/06/26/konocti-fire-tower-repairs-still-unfunded-cost-estimate-unknown/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Konocti fire lookout tower shut down after safety inspection, Lake County Record-Bee, https://www.record-bee.com/2019/11/09/konocti-fire-lookout-tower-shut-down-after-safety-inspection/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association California-Pacific chapter report, 2019, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ca-pacific-2019.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Konocti Lookout
Photo: Bill Ulmer, 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 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.