FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Riverside County, California

Red Mountain Lookout (San Bernadino NF)

Also known as Red Mountain, Red Mtn - Riverside

San Bernardino NF lookout (Riverside Co., CA), built 1936 or 1937, reopened 1998-99 with volunteers; destroyed by the Fairview Fire, September 2022. Current site condition not documented.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed by the Fairview Fire in September 2022 (FFLA 2022 report; FFLA chapter; foundation page)

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 sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower1934 standard Region 5 Plan BC-301 wood cab (14 by 14 ft) with catwalk, on a 20-foot steel H-brace tower with steel I-beam corner postsThe design: BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1936
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
4,536 ft (1,383 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, San Bernardino National Forest (San Jacinto Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Riverside County, California
Coordinates
33.63014, −116.84781
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-red-mountain-san-bernadino-nf

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 2.9 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. 1936 BuiltCompleted 1936 per the register and the FFLA chapter; the foundation says 1937, built by the Civilian Conservation CorpsSources: nhlr.org, ffla-sandiego.org, mountainsfoundation.org
  2. No record between 1936 and 1998
  3. 1998 StaffedReturned to service with volunteer Lookout Hosts in October 1998 (register); the foundation says re-opened in 1999Sources: nhlr.org, mountainsfoundation.org
  4. 1999 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 6, 1999 as US 290, CA 23; nominated by the San Jacinto Ranger DistrictSource: nhlr.org
  5. 1999 StaffedReopened by the foundation's volunteers.Source: mountainsfoundation.org
  6. No record between 1999 and 2022
  7. 2022 BurnedDestroyed by the Fairview Fire in September.Source: mountainsfoundation.org
  8. 2022 DestroyedDestroyed by the Fairview Fire on September 8, 2022 (FFLA 2022 report); the FFLA chapter and the foundation give September 2022Sources: firelookout.org, ffla-sandiego.org, mountainsfoundation.org
  9. 2022 FireFairview Fire started September 5, 2022 near Hemet; CAL FIRE lists 28,098 acresSource: fire.ca.gov
  10. 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.

Red Mountain sits in the southern reaches of the San Bernardino National Forest, southeast of Hemet, in Riverside County, California.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register lists it as US 290 and CA 23, at about 4,536 feet.2

The register says the lookout was completed in 1936. Its cab is a 1934 standard Region 5 design, set on a 20-foot steel H-brace tower.2 The San Diego-Riverside chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association also says 1936.3 The Southern California Mountains Foundation dates the original construction to 1937 and credits the Civilian Conservation Corps.1 The sources disagree on the year, so we report both.

The lookout went back into service after a rehabilitation. The register says volunteer hosts brought it back in October 1998, and that it was registered on January 6, 1999.2 The foundation says it re-opened in 1999.1 The FFLA chapter says the foundation's volunteers operated it, and that the lookout coordinated daily by radio with the chapter's volunteer lookouts on Palomar Mountain.3

The Fairview Fire started on September 5, 2022, near Hemet, and the fire covered 28,098 acres.4 The FFLA's 2022 year-end report says the fire destroyed Red Mountain Lookout on 9/8/22.5 The foundation and the FFLA chapter both record the loss in September 2022.1,3

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site. The foundation's page still gives driving directions, by Forest Road 6S22, but it does not say whether the road or the site is open today.1 So we cannot say whether the site is public. Anyone planning a trip should check with the San Bernardino National Forest before going.

  1. FL Seven Lookouts, Southern California Mountains Foundation, https://mountainsfoundation.org/programs/fire-lookouts/fl-seven-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Red Mountain Lookout (San Bernadino NF), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/red-mountain-lookout-san-bernadino-nf/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Red Mountain (Riverside), Forest Fire Lookout Association San Diego-Riverside Chapter, https://www.ffla-sandiego.org/fire-lookout/southern-california-towers/red-mountainriverside/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Fairview Fire, CAL FIRE, https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2022/9/5/fairview-fire/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. 2022 Year-End Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association California-South Division, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ca-south-2022.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

June 2018 photo
June 2018 photo (2018)Photo: Michael Guerin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cab in June 2018
Cab in June 2018 (2018)Photo: Michael Guerin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Fire Finder in June 2018
Fire Finder in June 2018 (2018)Photo: Michael Guerin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Red Mountain Lookout (San Bernadino NF)
Photo: 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages: Gone
    • Southern California Mountains Foundation: Gone
    • FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter: Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
  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. Southern California Mountains Foundation Gave us: dates, links Southern California Mountains Foundation (mountainsfoundation.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, what happened). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the foundation's page it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter Gave us: links Forest Fire Lookout Association, San Diego-Riverside Chapter (ffla-sandiego.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, designs, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the chapter's page it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: 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
  6. 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
  7. FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages Gave us: register numbers, dates, 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
  8. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.