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Fire lookout · Orange County, California

Santiago Peak Lookout Site

Santiago Peak lookout, Orange County, CA: lookout by 1912, tower built 1913 (or 1914), 35-ft tower 1951; cab gone by 1988, tower stands on an AT&T relay building in a communications site.

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. Active communications site on Cleveland National Forest land; FFLOS calls it the busiest communications site in the United States. No public visiting rule appears in the sources read.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Part of an active communications facility; do not climb the relay building or tower. No public visit information in the sources read.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerOriginal two-level ground-mounted peak-roof structure (1913); 75-ft X-brace steel tower by 1930, lowered to 20 ft in the late 1940s; 1951 35-ft H-brace steel tower with a cab (13x13 ft per FFLOS, 10-ft per FFLA-SDRC)The design: BC-201
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1913
Height
35 ft (10.7 m)
Elevation
5,687 ft (1,733 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Cleveland National Forest (Trabuco Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Orange County, California
Coordinates
33.71056, −117.53333
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-santiago-peak

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 3.1 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. 1912 First staffedForest Supervisor appointed a lookout in June 1912; Eugene Davis named lookout in July 1912 (newspaper items quoted on the weebly page)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1913 BuiltFFLOS gives 1913 for the first tower; FFLA-SDRC gives 1914. Newspapers show a lookout and cabin on the peak already in 1912.Sources: firetower.org, ffla-sandiego.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1913 and 1929
  4. 1929 StaffedA September 1929 item credits the Santiago Peak lookout with helping keep three lightning fires smallSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1930 Replaced by a new structureBy October 1930 a modern 75-foot tower stood on the peak (newspaper item quoted on weebly). FFLOS says the 1913 structure was replaced in the 1930s.Sources: californialookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  6. 1935 RemovedFFLA-SDRC says the CCC removed the original tower in 1935. The sources do not say which structure that was.Source: ffla-sandiego.org
  7. No record between 1935 and 1951
  8. 1951 Replaced by a new structureA 35-foot tower replaced the lookout; FFLOS gives a 13x13 ft cab and FFLA-SDRC a 10-ft cabSources: firetower.org, ffla-sandiego.org
  9. 1964 AlteredAT&T built a telephone relay building on the lookout site; a tower and cab were added to its roofSource: firetower.org
  10. No record between 1964 and 1988
  11. 1988 RemovedAT&T removed the cab by 1988; the tower and catwalk still stand on the buildingSource: firetower.org
  12. No record between 1988 and 2009
  13. 2009 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 17, 2009 as US 518, CA 4; nominated by Brad EellsSource: firetower.org
  14. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Santiago Peak, the highest point in the Santa Ana Mountains and in Orange County, California, had a fire lookout by 1912.1,2,3 Newspaper items quoted by CaliforniaLookouts.weebly.com describe a plan to protect the mountains better against fire, a small cabin on the peak, and a telephone line to a fire warden's house in the Trabuco.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates the first tower to 1913, while FFLA-SDRC gives 1914.2,4

The first structure was a two-level, ground-mounted building with a peaked roof, according to the register.2 A 1930 newspaper item already refers to a modern 75-foot tower on the peak.1 FFLA-SDRC says the Civilian Conservation Corps removed the original tower in 1935. That date does not sit easily with the 1930 reference, and the sources do not say which structure the CCC took down.1,4

Lookouts appear by name in the early newspaper items. Eugene Davis was the lookout in July 1912. A January 1913 item says Andrew Joplin was lookout man on the peak during the previous fire season.1 A 1929 item credits the Santiago Peak lookout with helping keep three lightning fires small.1

In the late 1940s the tower was lowered to 20 feet.2 In 1951 it was replaced by a 35-foot steel tower with a cab.2,4 The two sources disagree on the cab: the register gives 13 by 13 feet, and FFLA-SDRC gives 10 feet.2,4 The Forest Service stopped using the lookout in the late 1970s or early 1980s.2 In 1964 AT&T built a telephone relay building on the site, and a tower and cab were added to its roof. AT&T removed that cab by 1988. The tower and catwalk are still standing on the relay building.2

Today the peak is a communications site. The register says the peak is the busiest communications site in the country.2 FFLA-SDRC says the remaining structure is surrounded by communications facilities, and Wikipedia says an antenna farm sits on top of the peak.4,3 The sources we read do not describe public access, so we list the site as restricted. We do not recommend climbing the relay building or the tower, since they are part of an active facility. The register lists the site as registered on February 17, 2009.2

  1. Santiago Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, CaliforniaLookouts.weebly.com, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/santiago-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Santiago Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/santiago-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Santiago Peak, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Peak (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Santiago Peak - FFLA-SDRC, FFLA-SDRC, https://www.ffla-sandiego.org/fire-lookout/southern-california-towers/santiago-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Santiago Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1916
1916 (1916)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Santiago Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Santiago Peak Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1969
1969 (1969)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1970s
1970sPhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1960s with Radios
1960s with RadiosPhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Watchers Spot Fires From Lofty Towers
Watchers Spot Fires From Lofty TowersPhoto: Los Angeles Times, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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: Standing
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter: Standing

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: 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: height 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 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, height, 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

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