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Fire lookout · Pacific County, Washington

Blaney Mountain Lookout Site

Pacific County, WA lookout site: 84-ft timber tower with L-4 cab built 1950, staffed by Florence Sanders in 1955, tower and ground house since removed, date unknown.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. Driving ends at a gate near the Pacific/Wahkiakum county line; past it the land is private timber, and Willhite says a permit is likely required for the last mile

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower and ground house removed; the removal date is not known from the sources

Visit & stay

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

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower84-foot treated timber tower with 14x14 foot L-4 cab and a ground houseThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1950
Height
84 ft (25.6 m)
Elevation
2,546 ft (776 m)
Agency
Washington State Division of Forestry/DNR
Land
State land
Location
Pacific County, Washington
Coordinates
46.38745, −123.42150
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-blaney-mountain

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 4.1 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. 1950 Built84-foot treated timber tower with L-4 cab and ground house built in 1950Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1955 StaffedFlorence Sanders listed at the lookout in late 1955; a September 1955 newspaper item says she was being moved to the station, spelled BlainySources: firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1955 and 2011
  4. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered with Former Fire Lookout Sites on November 26, 2011 as US 1155, WA 63Source: firetower.org
  5. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Blaney Mountain lookout stood on a summit in Pacific County, Washington, at about 2,546 feet.1,2 The Washington State Division of Forestry/DNR administered it.1

In 1950 an 84-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab went up, along with a ground house on the summit.1,3,4,2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register lists the site as US 1155, WA 63, and registered it on November 26, 2011.1

The sources name one lookout worker. Florence Sanders is listed at the lookout in late 1955.3 A September 1955 newspaper item, quoted on the Washington Lookouts page, says she had worked at the lookout stations for four years and was being moved to the station the paper spelled Blainy.4 We found no source that names a fire the lookout watched.

The tower and ground house have since been removed, according to the Former Fire Lookout Sites page.1 Firelookout.com says it is not clear when they came down, and Willhite says the removal date is unknown.3,2

Willhite visited the summit and says snow kept him from finding anything left there. He describes the summit as very large and flat.2 We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today.

Driving ends at a gate near the Pacific and Wahkiakum county line.2 Willhite says the land past that gate is private timber, with Hancock Timber signs noted in 2017, and that a permit is likely needed to go the last mile officially.2 Anyone going past the gate should first get the landowner's permission.2

  1. Blaney Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/blaney-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Blaney Mountain Lookout, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/blaney_mountain_lookout/tower_182.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Blaney Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/blaney.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Blaney Mountain, Washington Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/blaney-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Blaney Mountain 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, 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, ownership, 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. WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts Gave us: links WillhiteWeb.com · No licence stated; names and page links only (the site's photos and text are not reproduced). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. 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.