Fire lookout · Los Angeles County, California
Warm Springs Mountain Lookout Site
Also known as Warm Springs
Angeles NF lookout built 1934 to plan BC-301; cab burned in a 1987 fire, steel tower still stands; restoration abandoned; sources disagree on the fire's name.
- Standing
- Open to the public
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. Reached on foot by a fire road, 6.5 miles one way from Lake Hughes Road (trail report). A Do Not Climb sign is posted on the tower. No official access rule found.
- Can you climb it?
- No
- Road to the top?
- No, you have to hike
- Trail
- No summit trail remains; the approach is a 6.5-mile fire road from Lake Hughes Road. A Do Not Climb sign is posted on the tower.
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- sources disagree
- Type
- Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 wood cab on a 20-foot H-brace open steel towerThe design: BC-301
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1934
- Height
- 20 ft (6.1 m)
- Elevation
- 4,022 ft (1,226 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service - Angeles National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Los Angeles County, California
- Coordinates
- 34.59554, −118.57980
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-warm-springs-mountain
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 3.2 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
- 1934 BuiltConstructed in 1934 to California Region 5 plan BC-301 (registry)Source: firetower.org
- No record between 1934 and 1969
- 1969 EventNewspaper (Aug 19, 1969, quoted by Forest Lookouts) says the tower first spotted smoke near a Los Angeles water reservoir; it does not name the observerSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1969 and 1987
- 1987 BurnedOverrun by a 1987 fire and burned; cab lost. Registry says 'Ruby Fire'; ANFFLA and Angeles Adventures say 'Ruby Ridge Fire'; Forest Lookouts describes a September 1987 fire northeast of Castaic LakeSources: firetower.org, anffla.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1987 Removed'Removed' field on FFLOS detail page: "1987".Source: FFLOS register entry
- No record between 1987 and 2019
- 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 3, 2019; nominated by Brad EellsSource: firetower.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Warm Springs Mountain stands in the Angeles National Forest, in Los Angeles County, at about 4,022 feet.1 The lookout was constructed in 1934 to a California Region 5 plan, BC-301.1 The cab sat on a steel H-brace tower 20 feet high, and a trail report measures the wood cab at 14 by 14 feet.1,2
The sources we read do not name anyone who staffed it. A newspaper report from August 1969, quoted on the Forest Lookouts site, says the tower first spotted smoke near a Los Angeles water reservoir.3 That same blaze shut off a power transmission line serving most of the San Fernando Valley.3
The cab was lost in 1987.1,4 The registry says the lookout was overrun by the Ruby Fire and burned, and that the cabin had no staff and was never rebuilt.1 The sources disagree on the fire's name.1,4 The Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association calls it the Ruby Ridge Fire.4 The Forest Lookouts page describes a September 1987 fire northeast of Castaic Lake that burned the lookout.3 One trail report lists the status as demolished, even though its own text says the steel tower remains.2
The steel tower still stands.1 The Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association has abandoned its plan to restore it, though it says a future project might bring the tower back.4,2 A trail report describes the structure as very unstable, with planks missing, and a Do Not Climb sign is posted on it.2 The route is a fire road, 6.5 miles one way, from Lake Hughes Road.2 Please keep off the tower.
- Warm Springs Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/warm-springs-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Warm Springs, Angeles Adventures, https://angelesadventures.com/warm-springs/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Warm Springs Mountain, Forest Lookouts (California section), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/warm-springs-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Inactive Towers, Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.anffla.org/towers/inactive-towers/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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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
- Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association: Ruins
Sources
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association (opens another site) Gave us: dates, links Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association (anffla.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 association's page it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLOS records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages (opens another site) 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
- 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
- FFLOS register entry US 1790 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- Warm Springs (Angeles Adventures) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association: work on Warm Springs Lookout (opens another site)
- Warm Springs Mountain Lookout - Ron Kemnow Page (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.