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Fire lookout · Ocean County, New Jersey

Lakewood Station Fire Tower

1944 80-foot steel fire tower in Lakewood, Ocean County, moved 300 feet in 1974; out of service July 2024 and dismantled; replacement tower built in Jackson Township.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Out of service since early July 2024. The tower no longer stands at the Massachusetts Avenue site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Taken out of service in early July 2024 after the land was sold, and dismantled later that year. A replacement NJ Forest Fire Service tower has been completed on East Veterans Highway in Jackson Township.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot all-steel Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1944
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
136 ft (42 m)
Agency
New Jersey Forest Fire Service
Land
State land
Location
Ocean County, New Jersey
Coordinates
40.07057, −74.22790
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nj-lakewood

View from the cab

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This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

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History

Then and now

  1. 1944 BuiltBuilt after normal working hours by five Jersey Central Power & Light employees for $360; 80-foot tower with a 7 by 7 foot cabSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1953 FireApril 30, 1953 blaze cut a two-mile path through more than 1,000 acres of Lakewood pineland; the alarm was sounded from the towerSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1953 and 1974
  4. 1974 MovedMoved 300 feet because of a property dispute; remained activeSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1974 and 2004
  6. 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 3, 2004 as US 555, NJ 14; nominated by Bob SpearSource: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 2004 and 2021
  8. 2021 FireDescribed by the Lakewood Scoop as a vital tool in the March 2021 Airport Road wildfireSource: thelakewoodscoop.com
  9. 2024 ClosedTaken out of service effective July 5, 2024 (1st Responder News); the land was sold and the lease was not renewedSources: thelakewoodscoop.com, 1strespondernews.com
  10. 2024 RemovedTaken down after decommissioning that summer; the Lakewood Scoop showed crews dismantling it in September 2024Source: thelakewoodscoop.com
  11. 2025 Replaced by a new structureNew NJ Forest Fire Service tower completed on East Veterans Highway, Jackson Township; construction underway through 2025; opening date not announcedSources: thelakewoodscoop.com, 1strespondernews.com
  12. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Lakewood Station fire tower was an 80-foot, all-steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab, put up in Ocean County, New Jersey, in 1944.1,2 Five employees of Jersey Central Power & Light built it in their off-hours for $360, planning to finish in about two weeks.1,2

During the Second World War, the tower was used to monitor German U-boat communications in the Atlantic, about 12 miles to the east.1 In April 1953 a blaze burned a two-mile path through more than 1,000 acres of Lakewood pine country, and the tower operator raised the alarm.2 A property dispute forced the tower to move 300 feet in 1974, and it stayed in service.1,2 The Register listed the tower on March 3, 2004, with Bob Spear as nominator.1

Its service ended in early July 2024, when the New Jersey Forest Fire Service took it out of service, effective July 5 by one account.3 The Lakewood Scoop reported the closure on July 7 and said officials had not given a reason.4 According to 1st Responder News, the land under the tower had been sold and the new owner had not renewed the lease.3

A September 2024 Scoop video showed crews taking the tower down after the Forest Fire Service had decommissioned it that summer.5 One Scoop article gives its height as 136 feet.4 That figure matches the Register's elevation for the site.1 The Register and the Eastern lookouts page both say 80 feet.1,2

A replacement New Jersey Forest Fire Service tower has been completed on East Veterans Highway in Jackson Township.5 Construction was underway through 2025, and the article said no opening date had been announced.5 The 1st Responder report had said the new tower would be called Veterans Tower and built at the Forest Resource Center in Jackson.3 The tower on Massachusetts Avenue was taken down in 2024, so there is nothing to visit there.5

  1. Lakewood Station Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nj/lakewood-station-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Lakewood, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/lakewood.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. John Rieth, "Lakewood Forest Fire Lookout Tower Out of Service," 1st Responder News, July 16, 2024, https://www.1strespondernews.com/news/071624106/lakewood-forest-fire-lookout-tower-out-of-service (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. "NJ Forest Fire Service Lookout Tower In Lakewood Permanently Closes," The Lakewood Scoop, July 7, 2024, https://thelakewoodscoop.com/news/nj-forest-fire-service-lookout-tower-in-lakewood-permanently-closes/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. "PHOTOS: The New Fire Lookout Tower in Jackson Township Which Replaces the Dismantled Lakewood Structure," The Lakewood Scoop, January 5, 2026, https://thelakewoodscoop.com/news/photos-the-new-fire-lookout-tower-in-jackson-township-which-replaces-the-dismantled-lakewood-structure/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Lakewood Station Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

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  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • Firefinder research: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing

    Research (2026-10-08) gives gone where the source records give standing. The page shows the researched status; please tell us if it is wrong.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, 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. Wikipedia: List of New Jersey Forest Fire Service fire towers Gave us: height, ownership, links Wikipedia (NJFFS fire tower list) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikipedia). Facts only (register numbers, elevation, height, division, coordinates); article prose/notes not reproduced. Photos are Wikimedia Commons files, each with its own licence on its file page. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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.