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Fire lookout · Ventura County, California

Mount Pinos - AWS Site

Ventura County AWS post built 1942-43 for aircraft spotting and fire detection; the register lists it as gone with no removal date.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register list shows Gone; detail page gives removal as unknown; no source describes what remains

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
Ground-level cabstandard AWS post structure with a ground cabin and cupolaThe design: Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1942
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,847 ft (2,697 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Los Padres National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Ventura County, California
Coordinates
34.81280, −119.14536
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-mount-pinos-aws

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1942 BuiltBuilt 1942-43 per the register's Built field; description says constructed in 1942/43Source: firetower.org
  2. No record between 1942 and 2020
  3. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 16, 2020; nominated by Brad EellsSource: firetower.org
  4. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Mount Pinos rises to 8,847 feet in the Los Padres National Forest, in Ventura County.1 The post there was built in 1942-43 as a standard Aircraft Warning Service structure, with a ground cabin and a cupola.1 It served two jobs: spotting enemy aircraft and detecting fires.1

The Forest Service equipped and manned the post, and the Army paid the Forest Service back for all of its costs.1 Operators were supposed to pass all aircraft activity, and every fire or smoke, on to Forest Service dispatch.1 Aircraft details were then passed on to the Army.1

A Peakbagging page describes it as a plane-spotting site from the Second World War, and says it may also have been a fire lookout for some years.2 The register notes, citing newspaper reports, that forest fire detection was happening there as early as 1927, but says it is unknown whether any structure stood there before the war.1

The register's list shows the site as Gone.3 Its detail page gives no removal date and says the post may have kept detecting fires after the war.1 The register added the site on April 16, 2020, on the nomination of Brad Eells.1

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains on the mountain today, or whether the public can visit the site.

  1. Mount Pinos - AWS Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/mount-pinos-aws-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Mount Pinos, Airplane Spotting Station, California, PeakBagging, http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/MtPinos.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Lookout site list, Former Fire Lookout Sites, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Mount Pinos - Aircraft Warning Service Site
Mount Pinos - Aircraft Warning Service SitePhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, 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: wartime use, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.