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Fire lookout · Spokane County, Washington

Turnbull Lookout Site

Turnbull NWR, Spokane County: a 1938 fire tower of 99 ft with an L-6 cab, in ruins by 1971; WillhiteWeb says hiking to the site is restricted.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower in ruins by 1971; footings and timbers appear in WillhiteWeb's photos. Hiking to the site is prohibited on this refuge land except in hunting season.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. WillhiteWeb says the refuge prohibits hiking in this area except in hunting season, for hunters with special permits; signs at the gate say no entry.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Hiking here is prohibited except in hunting season for special-permit hunters. Do not visit without refuge permission.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower99-foot tower with an L-6 cab (1938)The design: L-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1938
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,316 ft (706 m)
Agency
U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Land
Federal land
Location
Spokane County, Washington
Coordinates
47.43041, −117.59803
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-turnbull

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 4.0 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. 1938 Built99-foot tower with an L-6 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1952 EventUSGS benchmark placed at the site; the survey described the tower as 108.8 feet tall. A refuge photo dated September 5, 1952 is captioned as a view from the fire towerSources: willhiteweb.com, dc.ewu.edu
  3. No record between 1952 and 1971
  4. 1971 EventRuins on the ground by 1971; the sources do not say how the tower came downSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1971 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 17, 2012 (US 1532, WA 432), nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  7. 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.

Turnbull Lookout stood inside the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, about four miles south-southwest of Cheney in Spokane County.1,2 The register lists U.S. Fish & Wildlife as its administrator.1 The tower went up in 1938. Sources describe it as 99 feet tall with an L-6 cab.1,2,3

WillhiteWeb says a 1952 USGS description gave the tower a height of 108.8 feet, which does not match the 99-foot figure.3 A refuge photo dated September 5, 1952 was taken from the fire tower, looking out over Lower Turnbull Lake, so the tower was still standing that year.4

By 1971 the tower was in ruins on the ground.1,2,3 Parts of the cab were reused in a museum cab in Ray Kresek's yard.3

WillhiteWeb says hiking is banned on this part of the refuge outside hunting season, when hunters with special permits may enter.3 Gate signs forbid entry.3 Its photos show footings and timbers from the tower on the ground.3 We found no other source that describes the site today.

  1. Turnbull Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/turnbull-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Turnbull Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/turnbull.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Turnbull Fire Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/turnbull_lookout/tower_228.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Low water levels at Lower Turnbull Lake, Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge Photographs, Eastern Washington University Digital Commons, https://dc.ewu.edu/turnbull_photos/66 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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. 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
  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, status, agency, access, 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.