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Fire lookout · San Diego County, California

Red Mountain Lookout (San Diego County)

Also known as Red Mountain, Red Mtn - San Diego

CDF enclosed-tower lookout near Fallbrook; closed 1977, cab stripped and sealed, and the site is now a communications facility with radio gear.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. inside an active communications site; the sources describe no public visiting arrangement

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
catwalk removed and cab stripped and sealed; no public visit described in the sources
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Enclosed tower15 x 15 ft R5/C3 cab on a 10 ft enclosed tower (per the Register); FFLA describes a plain wood cab on a 10 ft concrete-block base after 1977The designs: C-3, L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,608 ft (490 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE); Cal Fire San Diego Unit is listed as cooperator
Land
Unknown
Location
San Diego County, California
Coordinates
33.40031, −117.19093
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-red-mountain-san-diego-county

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 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. 1921 Builtfirst lookout built by the state (Register); FFLA says the site has hosted a lookout since 1921 and no image of the original survivesSources: nhlr.org, ffla-sandiego.org
  2. 1935 Replaced by a new structureFFLA: new CDF structure built with a garage and weather station, a design similar to a Forest Service 4AR 14 x 14 cab on an enclosed 10 ft tower. The Register does not give this date; it says the CCC replaced the first lookout in the 1930sSource: ffla-sandiego.org
  3. No record between 1935 and 1973
  4. 1973 BuiltRegister Built field 1973: CDF built the current 15 x 15 ft R5/C3 cab on a 10 ft enclosed towerSource: nhlr.org
  5. 1977 ClosedFFLA: lookout closed in 1977; catwalk removed; cab stripped and sealed but still standsSource: ffla-sandiego.org
  6. 1977 Replaced by a new structureFFLA: the 1935 structure was replaced in 1977 with a very simple wood cab resting on a concrete block 10 ft baseSource: ffla-sandiego.org
  7. 1977 Last staffedRegister: current cab was staffed until 1977Source: nhlr.org
  8. No record between 1977 and 2008
  9. 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate Registered December 16, 2008Source: nhlr.org
  10. 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.

Red Mountain, near Fallbrook in northern San Diego County, has hosted a lookout since 1921, though no picture of the first one survives.1 The Register instead places the first lookout near the Mexican border.2 The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection administers the site, and Cal Fire's San Diego Unit is listed as a cooperator.2

The two sources disagree on the early history. The Register says the state built the first lookout in 1921 and that the CCC replaced it in the 1930s with an L-4 cab on a 10-foot wooden tower.2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's San Diego chapter instead dates a new CDF structure to 1935, with a garage and weather station, on a 10-foot enclosed tower.1

The Register dates the cab now on the site to 1973, when CDF built a 15-by-15-foot cab on a 10-foot enclosed tower, and says the lookout was staffed until 1977.2 The chapter says the 1935 structure was replaced in 1977 with a very simple wood cab on a concrete-block base, so the sources disagree on whether the present cab dates from 1973 or 1977.2,1

The lookout closed in 1977. Its catwalk is gone, the cab has been stripped and sealed, and the structure still stands.1 The Register lists the site as registered on December 16, 2008.2

The site is now a major communications facility, and it can be seen west of Interstate 15, just north of the Mission Road exit to Fallbrook.1 According to the Register, the structure now holds radio equipment.2 The sources describe no public visits, so visitors should not expect to go up, and the sealed cab should not be entered.

  1. Red Mountain (SD), Forest Fire Lookout Association San Diego-Riverside Chapter, https://www.ffla-sandiego.org/fire-lookout/southern-california-towers/red-mountainsd/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Red Mountain Lookout (San Diego County), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/red-mountain-lookout-san-diego-county/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Red Mountain Lookout (San Diego County)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Red Mountain Lookout - Mid 1040's
Red Mountain Lookout - Mid 1040'sPhoto: Barbara Bradford Collection, 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.

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 the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1973
    • FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter: 1921

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

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. FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter Gave us: dates, 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
  4. 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
  5. FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages Gave us: register numbers, 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
  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.