FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Westfir Lookout Site

Lane County non-standard L-4 cab dated to the 1930s and removed or destroyed in the 1950s; the two detail sources disagree on which.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in the 1950s; the register and firelookout.com disagree on which.

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
Ground-level cabnon-standard L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,360 ft (415 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.75142, −122.50441 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-westfir

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 3.7 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. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS: May 16, 2011Source: firetower.org
  2. 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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Westfir lookout was a non-standard L-4 cab on the Willamette National Forest in Lane County, at an elevation of 1,360 feet.1 The register gives its coordinates as 43.751421 north and 122.504413 west.1 Firelookout.com places the cab one mile west of Oakridge.2

Both sources date the cab to the 1930s.1,2 They also put its end in the 1950s, but they describe the ending differently. The register says the cab was removed, while FireLookout.com says it was destroyed.1,2

The register added the site on May 16, 2011.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's list marks it as gone and records its type as ground.3

None of the cited sources describes what, if anything, remains at the site now. Visitors should ask the Willamette National Forest about the site before going.

  1. Westfir Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/westfir-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Westfir Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/westfir.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Oregon lookout list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/or/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

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 1.0 km (0.6 mi).

    • FFLOS: 43.75142, −122.50441
    • FFLA: 43.75240, −122.51730
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 43.75240, −122.51730

    They share a register number.

    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, ownership, dates, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.