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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Diamond Peak Patrol

Also known as Diamond Peak, Diamond Patrol Tower (Lost in 2022)

Pole platform patrol tower in the Kaniksu National Forest near Diamond Peak, reported lost before or during the 2022 Diamond Watch fire; summit footings remain.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Reported lost before or during the 2022 Diamond Watch fire; footings and a helipad remain at the summit lookout site.

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
Trail
4.2 miles round trip from a gated road just southeast of Petit Lake, with moderate bushwhacking; the route passes the old summit site

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerPole platform patrol tower; the summit lookout was a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
Unknown
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,320 ft (1,317 m)
Agency
Kaniksu National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.63360, −117.06650
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-diamond-peak-patrol

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 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. 2022 EventPatrol tower reported lost either before or during the Diamond Watch fire, per Forest Fire Lookout Association confirmation as reported by TrailChickSource: trailchick.com
  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 Diamond Peak summit lookout was a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, built in 1934 and used into the late 1950s.1,2 It was destroyed about 1960.1,2 A patrol platform tower stood about three-quarters of a mile from the summit, past the 4,413 point, to look into a blind spot the summit could not see.1,2 Willhite has a photograph of the patrol tower from 1982.1 The patrol tower is listed under the Kaniksu National Forest.3

The two sources disagree about the patrol tower's fate. TrailChick reports that the Forest Fire Lookout Association confirmed it was lost either before or during the Diamond Watch fire in 2022.2 Willhite's page has no date and says the tower still stands but is expected to fall or burn soon.1 The story follows the association's account, which is the more specific of the two.

TrailChick's 2018 visit found footings and a helipad at the old summit site, about half a mile from the patrol tower.2 Willhite's undated photo captions mention a patrol tower footing and a patrol point in poor condition, but no source I read describes the site today.1 The walk is 4.2 miles round trip from a gated road just southeast of Petit Lake.2 It involves moderate bushwhacking and a faint trail across the ridge, and it passes the old summit site on the way.2

  1. Diamond Peak Lookout & Patrol Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/diamond_peak_lookout_site/patrol_tower_360.htm (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Diamond Peak Patrol - RIP, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/diamond-peak-patrol-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Diamond Peak Patrol, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/diamond-peak-patrol.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Photo of Diamond Peak Patrol
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: name, location, county, agency, 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
  2. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: elevation, type, status, photos, links TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.