FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

First Butte Lookout

A Forest Service L-4 lookout on a 28-foot timber tower, built 1938 in the Okanogan NF; staffed until 1997; the lookout survived the 2021 Cub Creek 2 fire.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Described as an active detection site still used for emergencies; no source describes public visits or overnight rental

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower14 x 14-foot L-4 cab with catwalk on a 28-foot timber towerCab: L-4; tower: Region 6 timber towers (CT, TT)
Built of
Wood
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1938
Height
28 ft (8.5 m)
Elevation
5,417 ft (1,651 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.61920, −120.10760
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-first-butte

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 4.5 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. 1931 EventA 1931 newspaper item, quoted on a lookout-history site, describes a house and tower built for a lookout station on First Butte; may be an earlier stationSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1938 BuiltBuilt by the Forest Service; the register and the Methow Valley FFLA both give 1938 for the current structureSources: nhlr.org, mvffla.org
  3. 1942 AlteredGround house, originally a garage or woodshed, converted to sleeping quarters for spottersSource: mvffla.org
  4. 1942 StaffedStaffed year-round as a World War II aircraft warning station; two people per station on 12-hour shiftsSources: nhlr.org, mvffla.org
  5. No record between 1942 and 1997
  6. 1997 StaffedStaffed every season through 1997Sources: firelookout.com, mvffla.org
  7. 1999 StaffedReturned to staffing five days a week during the 1999 fire season, after emergency-only use in 1998Sources: firelookout.com, mvffla.org
  8. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, November 8, 2000Sources: nhlr.org, mvffla.org
  9. No record between 2000 and 2021
  10. 2021 FireCub Creek 2 fire, July 2021, severely burned much of the summit; the ground house was lost and the lookout survivedSource: mvffla.org
  11. 2021 EventFreshly painted by volunteers from the National Forest Foundation and Filson before the fireSource: mvffla.org
  12. 2021 RestoredFilson employees and National Forest Foundation volunteers spent a weekend painting and restoring the tower, just before the Cub Creek 2 fire.Source: mvffla.org
  13. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

First Butte Lookout stands on a summit in the Okanogan National Forest, about 11 miles north-northeast of Winthrop, Washington.1,2 The Forest Service built the lookout in 1938. Its 14-by-14-foot L-4 cab, with a catwalk, sits on a 28-foot timber tower.1,2

The record is not entirely settled on the earliest date. A 1931 newspaper item, quoted on a lookout-history site, describes a house and tower built for a lookout station on the same peak.3 The register and the Methow Valley association both date the current structure to 1938, so an earlier station may have stood there first.1,4

For most of its working life the lookout was staffed each fire season. In 1942 the Forest Service staffed it year-round as a World War II aircraft warning station, with two people assigned to each station on 12-hour shifts.1,4 That year the ground house, originally a garage or woodshed, was turned into sleeping quarters for spotters watching for enemy aircraft.4 Staffing ran every season through 1997.2,4 In 1998 the lookout was used only for emergencies, and in 1999 it was staffed five days a week again.2,4

In July 2021 the Cub Creek 2 fire left heavy burn damage across much of the summit.4 The ground house was lost, but the lookout came through.4 Earlier in 2021, before the fire, volunteers from the National Forest Foundation and Filson gave the tower a fresh coat of paint.4 The lookout joined the National Historic Lookout Register in 2000, and the register still describes it as an active detection site.1,4

The sources also disagree on elevation. The register gives 5,417 feet, while the firelookout page gives 5,491 feet.1,2

Today the lookout is still used for emergencies.2,4 None of these sources describes public visits or overnight rental, so treat it as a working Forest Service site rather than a place to climb.

  1. First Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/first-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. First Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/1stbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. First Butte, FOREST LOOKOUTS, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/first-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. First Butte, Methow Valley FFLA, https://www.mvffla.org/first-butte (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of First Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
First Butte in 1952
First Butte in 1952 (1952)Photo: the US Forest Service and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
First Butte in 1953
First Butte in 1953 (1953)Photo: the US Forest Service and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
First Butte in 1970
First Butte in 1970 (1970)Photo: the US Forest Service and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
First Butte L.O.
First Butte L.OPhoto: the US Forest Service and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
First Butte smokechaser cabin
First Butte smokechaser cabinPhoto: the US Forest Service and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of First Butte Lookout
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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, wartime use, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, dates, photos, 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. Methow Valley Forest Fire Lookout Association Gave us: dates, links Methow Valley Forest Fire Lookout Association (mvffla.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the association's post it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: height, register numbers, access, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: 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
  7. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: 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
  8. FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages Gave us: links FFLA chapters and Friends groups (each link names the group) · Links to the groups' own pages; facts only from the California-South chapter's tower table (register page, operator, condition). No text or photos reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  9. 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
  10. 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.