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Fire lookout · Suffolk County, New York

Bayshore Lookout Site

Conservation Department 80-foot Aermotor LS-40 fire tower near Bay Shore (Brentwood), Long Island: built 1948, closed 1959, removed 1960.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. The register says the land is now privately held. Ask the owner before going onto it.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1960 per the register; the land is now privately held and no source describes what remains.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS-40 steel tower on concrete footings, with wood steps and landing platformsThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Steel
Built
1948
Height
Unknown
Elevation
70 ft (21 m)
Agency
New York State Conservation Department (Bureau of Forest Fire Control)
Land
Unknown
Location
Suffolk County, New York
Coordinates
40.75917, −73.26400
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-bayshore

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1945 EventJune 8, 1945 announcement by the Long Island State Park Commission of a planned new fire tower in the vicinity of Bay ShoreSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1948 BuiltBuilt by the Conservation Department; the Long Island page places it on a sand pit on Department of Transportation property on Fifth Avenue near Brentwood RoadSources: firetower.org, nysffla.org
  3. 1959 ClosedClosed in 1959 when the Conservation Department curtailed forest fire control on Long Island; in October 1959 the state abandoned lookout services and the title passed to Suffolk CountySources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com, nysffla.org
  4. 1960 RemovedRemoved by the NY State Conservation Department, Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSource: firetower.org
  5. No record between 1960 and 2009
  6. 2009 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on January 18, 2009Source: firetower.org
  7. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

In June 1945, the Long Island State Park Commission announced that the Conservation Department would improve fire protection on Long Island, including a new fire tower near Bay Shore.1

The register dates the tower to 1948 and describes an Aermotor LS-40 on concrete footings, with a steel frame and wooden steps and landing platforms.2 The Long Island page calls it an 80-foot tower built by the Conservation Department.3 It stood on a sand pit on Department of Transportation property, on Fifth Avenue near Brentwood Road, in the community of Brentwood.3

The Long Island page says it was the first and only structure at Bay Shore, and that it operated from 1948 until 1959.3 The page gives the reasons the Department cut back its forest fire work: a growing population and industry on Long Island, many well-equipped volunteer fire departments, and fewer woodlands.3 In October 1959 the state dropped its lookout services, and the title passed to Suffolk County.1

The register says the tower was removed in 1960 by the state's Bureau of Forest Fire Control.2 The Long Island page also lists it as removed.3

The register says the land is now privately held.2 We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, including the footings.2 Because the land is private, ask the owner before going onto it.

  1. Bayshore, Forest Lookouts (1945 newspaper notice and 1959 notes), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/bayshore.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bayshore Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ny/bayshore-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Long Island Fire Towers, nysffla.org, https://www.nysffla.org/towers1.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bayshore Lookout Site
Photo: 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.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, 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. 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, status, agency, access, 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.