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Fire lookout · Columbia County, Florida

West Fire Tower

Also known as West (greenfield G.S.)

1931 100-foot Aermotor tower built by the U.S. Forest Service in Osceola National Forest, Columbia County, Florida; NHLR-registered 2013. No staffing or access sources found.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go. No source says whether the public may climb the tower

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
West Tower Hunt Camp, a primitive Forest Service camp nearby, is a starting point for the West Tower Equestrian Trails and the Florida National Scenic Trail; the camp page does not mention the fire lookout
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab; model named L40 by the NHLR and LS-40 by Forest LookoutsThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
135 ft (41 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Columbia County, Florida
Coordinates
30.32301, −82.55901
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-fl-west-fire

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 2.8 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. 1931 BuiltNHLR and Forest Lookouts both give 1931; Forest Lookouts says the Forest Service erected itSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1931 and 2013
  3. 2013 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 1, 2013 as US 977, FL 2Source: nhlr.org
  4. 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.

The West Fire Tower is in Columbia County, Florida, on the Osceola National Forest.1 The National Historic Lookout Register says it was formerly known as the Greenfield Tower.1 The U.S. Forest Service erected the 100-foot Aermotor steel tower in 1931.1,2

The Register calls the model an L40 and describes a 7-by-7-foot cab.1 Forest Lookouts calls the model an LS-40.2 The two sources name it differently, and we have not settled which name is right.

The Register shows the tower registered on September 1, 2013, as US 977, FL 2, and gives its elevation as 135 feet (41 metres).1

The sources we read do not say who staffed the tower, which fires it watched, or whether it has ever been closed, moved or repaired.

Today the Forest Service runs the nearby West Tower Hunt Camp, a primitive camp from which riders can use the West Tower Equestrian Trails, and visitors can hike or backpack on the Florida National Scenic Trail.3 That camp page does not mention the fire lookout.3

A travel website describes the steel tower in the past tense, saying it rose above the canopy for decades.4 The Register listing dates from 2013, and we found no later report on its condition, so it is not clear the tower still stands.1 Ask the Forest Service whether the public may go up before you visit, and do not climb it without permission.

  1. West Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/fl/west-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. West (Greenfield GS), Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/west-greenfield-gs.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. West Tower Hunt Camp, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/florida/recreation/west-tower-hunt-camp (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. West Tower Osceola National Forest, Tebesir, https://tebesir.com/west-tower-osceola-national-forest (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, status, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, 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 LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: type, what it is built of, design, height, links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.