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Fire lookout · Ventura County, California

Santa Paula Peak

Ventura County lookout built about 1930 on Santa Paula Peak, staffed in 1932 during the Matilija Fire, probably lost in the 1948 Wheeler fire; some metal remains on the summit.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. Route to the summit crosses private land behind locked gates; the 2019 writer says not to attempt it without permission. Timber Canyon access is blocked to the public; the East Fork trail is overgrown and washed out.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Fire Lookout index lists the tower as gone; a 2019 trip report found a register box and some metal from the lookout on the summit

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower4AR-type cab, 14 by 14, with a steeply pitched roof (per a reader comment on Carey's post)The design: D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Santa Barbara National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Ventura County, California
Coordinates
34.44030, −119.00966
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-santa-paula-peak

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 3.0 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. 1930 BuiltCarey, citing Brown, gives 1930 and notes some sources say 1931; a September 1929 report describes work on the new lookout station underwaySources: californialookouts.weebly.com, craigrcarey.net
  2. 1932 FireMatilija Fire, September 1932; Carey says the lookout was surrounded by flames but saved by a backfireSources: californialookouts.weebly.com, craigrcarey.net
  3. 1932 StaffedC.A. Kennison was the fire lookout in September 1932Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1932 and 1948
  5. 1948 EventSuspected loss in the 1948 Wheeler Springs fire; Carey and a 2019 trip report both suspect it, and neither confirms itSources: craigrcarey.net, christopherplord.blogspot.com
  6. 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.

Santa Paula Peak is in Ventura County.1 The lookout sat in the Santa Barbara National Forest, in what is now the southern part of the Los Padres.1,2 In September 1929 the Lompoc Review reported that work was moving ahead on a new lookout station on Santa Paula Creek.1 The project was expected to cost about $6,000, and the station was meant to let foresters keep watch over the forest's southern section.1

Craig Carey's 2011 post, citing a source named Brown, dates the lookout to 1930, though some sources say 1931.2 A reader's comment on that post describes a 4AR-type cab, 14 by 14 with a steeply pitched roof, the kind of design the Forest Service used in California until about 1932.2

In September 1932 C.A. Kennison was the fire lookout.1 A newspaper report dated September 18, 1932 said the fire had forced him to leave the station.1 That fire was the Matilija Fire.2 Carey writes that flames surrounded the lookout, that a last-ditch backfire saved it, and that it only just escaped destruction.2

How the lookout ended is not confirmed.2 Carey says early research suggests it was destroyed in the 1948 Wheeler Springs fire, and he still considers its fate unresolved.2 A 2019 trip report says the writer believes it burned in the Wheeler fire, but asks that the guess not be quoted.3

The Fire Lookout index lists the tower as gone.4 A 2019 trip report describes a register box on the summit, along with some leftover metal from the old tower.3

The route to the summit crosses private land.3 The main approach, through Timber Canyon in Fillmore, has locked gates, and the property owners share the codes with only a few people.2,3 The East Fork trail is badly overgrown and has been damaged by washouts.3 Anyone wanting to go up needs permission first.3

  1. Santa Paula Peak - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/santa-paula-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Lookout! No. 9: Santa Paula Peak, Craig R. Carey, https://www.craigrcarey.net/2011/11/lookout-santa-paula-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Santa Paula Peak & first attempt at San Cayetano Mtn, Christopher Plord, https://christopherplord.blogspot.com/2019/04/santa-paula-peak-first-attempt-at-san.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. California lookout index, Fire Lookout, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: agency, ownership, 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
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, 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.