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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Scare Ridge Lookout Site

Scare Ridge lookout in Douglas County, Oregon: 30-foot pole tower with L-4 cab built 1948, staffed into the 1970s, removed (1973 per history page); no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed; the history page gives 1973, the register gives no year

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole tower topped by an L-4 cab; 14 x 14 foot cabinThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1948
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
1,200 ft (366 m)
Agency
Western Lane FPA
Land
Unknown
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.77226, −123.70692 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-scare-ridge

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 4.2 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

  1. 1948 BuiltBuilt 1948 per the register and firelookout.com; 1948 annual report quoted on the history pageSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1951 FireAugust 1951 fire near the Umpqua River (also called the Vincent Creek fire) threatened the station; crews backfired to save itSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1951 and 1966
  4. 1966 FireA teenager was evacuated from the lookout as a precaution while it sat near the northwest edge of a fire (August 1966, Eugene Register-Guard item quoted on history page)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1973 RemovedHistory page says the lookout was removed in 1973; the register says only that it has since been removedSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  6. No record between 1973 and 2011
  7. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered with the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register on March 28, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. 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.

The Scare Ridge lookout stood about 20 miles east-northeast of Reedsport, in Douglas County, Oregon.1,2

The register dates the lookout to 1948.2 It gives a 30-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab on top, administered by the Western Lane FPA.2,1 A history page quotes a 1948 annual report of the Oregon Department of Forestry, which says a 14 by 14 foot cabin was built on a 30-foot tower.3 The same report says a lumber company's division laid two miles of protective road linking the lookout to the Smith River road system, and it gives $1365.20 for materials and $624.49 for labor.3

The register says the lookout was staffed into the 1970s.2

In August 1951 a fire near the Umpqua River threatened the station, and crews backfired to save it.3 The history page quotes one newspaper calling the blaze "the Umpqua river fire near Scottsburg" and another calling it "the Vincent Creek fire."3 A 1966 item says a teenager was evacuated from the lookout as a precaution. The lookout sat near the northwest edge of a fire that night.3

The history page gives 1973 as the removal year and says the tower came through two forest fires.3 The register says only that the lookout was removed at some later point.2

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether visitors may go there.

  1. Scare Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/scareridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Scare Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/scare-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Scare Ridge, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/scare-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Scare Ridge 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.

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 the location by 1.2 km (0.7 mi).

    • FFLOS: 43.77226, −123.70692
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 43.76151, −123.70816

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, links 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, 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.