The Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout Tower in the Angeles National Forest stood on an ideal fire lookout site with broad views from Vetter Mountain. Constructed in 1937, it operated continuously under the U.S. Forest Service until 1981. After a vacancy, dedicated citizens working with the U.S. Forest Service rebuilt, restored, and returned it to service in 1998, and it was then operated by the Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service until the Station Fire destroyed it in 2009. Constant efforts to rebuild it followed, but they fell short until 2020, when a partnership with Southern California Edison rebuilt the tower in a form consistent with the siting, structure, and appearance of the original 1930s-era lookout. The rebuilt tower honors the men and women who contributed to wildfire identification and forest management in the Angeles National Forest. A fire lookout tower houses a fire lookout, who visually searches for wildfires and promptly notifies firefighters, and although such towers have diminished over time, this one remains active and is staffed by volunteers. Vetter Mountain, in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, was named for Victor P. Vetter, a forest ranger and fire dispatcher who won the U.S. Forest Service Bissell Medal in 1930 for outstanding work in forest conservation. Ramona Merwin, the last U.S. Forest Service fire lookout at Vetter Mountain, worked there from 1955 to 1981 after earlier service with her husband, Art, at other southern California lookouts in the late 1930s and early 1940s, raised her children at the lookout, and later worked as a receptionist on the Angeles National Forest until retiring in 1984. Southern California Edison also worked with the U.S. Forest Service on the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project, including more than 170 miles of high-voltage transmission lines crossing the Angeles National Forest, while seeking to minimize environmental impacts and provide restoration, including the rebuilding of the Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout.

Photo: Craig Baker (CC0)

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Craig Baker

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Craig Baker

Photo: Craig Baker

Photo: Craig Baker

Photo: Craig Baker

Photo: Craig Baker

Photo: Craig Baker

Altadena, California · USA