FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Passaic County, New Jersey

Ramapo Lookout

Built in 1920 as the Wind-beam Lookout, moved twice, rebuilt at Ramapo Mountain from 1983, and out of service with electrical issues in 2025.

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.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2025)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor tower with a 7'x7' cab (NHLR: LS-40; Pierson Ridge record: 60 ft LS-42)The design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1920
Height
49 ft (15.0 m)
Elevation
1,011 ft (308 m)
Agency
NJ Forest Fire Service
Land
State land
Location
Passaic County, New Jersey
Coordinates
41.05868, −74.25550
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nj-ramapo

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 3.7 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. 1920 BuiltErected on Windbeam Mountain as the Wind-beam Lookout with Ringwood Company funds; operated by Section 2 personnelSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, firetower.org
  2. No record between 1920 and 1971
  3. 1971 MovedMoved from Windbeam Mountain. Windbeam record: removed in 1971 and to Pierson Ridge circa 1971. Pierson Ridge record: relocated to Ringwood State Park in 1971Sources: firetower.org, firetower.org
  4. 1983 MovedReached Ramapo Mountain State Forest and has been at its present location since 1983. Pierson Ridge record says the remains were rebuilt there beginning in 1983Sources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, firetower.org
  5. 1992 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register as US 45, NJ 2 on July 2, 1992Source: nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1992 and 2007
  7. 2007 StaffedNHLR visit report dated May 1, 2007 marks the tower as staffedSource: nhlr.org
  8. No record between 2007 and 2025
  9. 2025 EventOut of service with electrical issues during the 2025 season; plans to staff it for the 2026 fire seasonSource: firelookout.org
  10. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Ramapo Lookout began in 1920 as the Wind-beam Lookout on Windbeam Mountain in Passaic County, New Jersey.1,2,3 The Ringwood Company supplied the money for it, and Section 2 personnel operated it.2 The tower was an Aermotor design with a 7-by-7-foot cab.1,3

Records of its working life are thin. A May 1, 2007 visit report on the National Historic Lookout Register page marks the tower as staffed and notes paint chipping in places.1 None of the sources I read names a notable fire that the lookout helped fight.1,2,3

The tower has moved twice, and the sources disagree about the route. The National Historic Lookout Register says it has been moved twice.1 The Windbeam record says it was removed in 1971, went to Pierson Ridge about then, and reached Ramapo Mountain State Forest in 1983.2 The Pierson Ridge record says it was relocated to Ringwood State Park in 1971, was later destroyed by vandals, and that its remains were rebuilt at Ramapo from 1983.3

The sources also disagree on size. Pierson Ridge describes a 60-foot LS-42 model, the register names an LS-40, and Wikipedia lists the tower at 50 feet (15 m).3,1,4

The lookout was registered on the National Historic Lookout Register on July 2, 1992, and the NJ Forest Fire Service administers it.1 The most recent record I found is the Forest Fire Lookout Association's 2025 New Jersey chapter report. It says six of the seven northern towers were staffed that year, as the Ramapo tower was out of service with electrical issues.5 Plans were in the works to fix the problem and staff the tower for the 2026 fire season.5

I found no source that says whether the tower can be visited or climbed. The 2007 visit report says no National Historic Lookout Register sign was posted at the site.1 Anyone planning to visit Ramapo Mountain State Forest should check with the NJ Forest Fire Service before going near the tower.

  1. Ramapo Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nj/ramapo-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Windbeam Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/nj/windbeam-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Pierson Ridge Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/nj/pierson-ridge-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. List of New Jersey Forest Fire Service fire towers, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Jersey_Forest_Fire_Service_fire_towers (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. 2025 NJ Chapter Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/cr-nj-2025.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Ramapo Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: type, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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.