The fight to keep a mountaintop fire tower staffed

Two and a half hours north of Sacramento — halfway from anywhere — an ancient metal and wood observation tower perches atop a hillside. For 92 years, someone has kept watch from the Colby Mountain Fire Lookout during the long dry months when California tends to burn.

But no more. The U.S. Forest Service has shut down the lookout and told its last occupant, Kenny Jordan, that it doesn’t plan to bring him back next summer for what would have been his 42nd fire season in the Lassen National Forest.

Jordan’s ouster and the proposal to shut down the landmark tower — built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934 — has touched off a tempest in rural Butte County. Locals say that Jordan provided an extra layer of security, often as the first person to notice telltale wisps of smoke marking another wildland fire, not to mention the helping hand he offered hikers, bikers and other strangers.

“We are so prone to fire. That’s the main priority up here,” said Laurie Bowers, a Butte Meadows local campaigning to keep Jordan and the tower in place. “We call Kenny Jordan our eyes in the sky. When something’s going on, everyone asks, ‘What does Kenny say?’“

The fate of the lookout became murkier Friday afternoon, when a U.S. Forest Service spokesperson said plans for the outpost remained undecided.

“Colby Mountain Lookout is currently closed for the winter season, as it is each year. It has not been decommissioned, and no decision has been made about its future status,” spokesperson Amber Marshall wrote in an email.

“The Forest Service is reviewing a range of options for the site,” Marshall continued, adding that locals will be informed when a decision has been made. She said that two “AlertCA” cameras remain on the tower and “maintain awareness of conditions across the landscape.”

Replaced by remotely monitored cameras

But locals say that two cameras atop the 30-foot-high steel tower can’t always tell a fog bank from a nascent fire. Jordan’s “level of judgment and situational awareness cannot be replicated by cameras or automated systems alone,” Bowers said. “His understanding is priceless.”

The Butte County Board of Supervisors has joined the campaign to keep the tower open. In a letter this week to Lassen National Forest Supervisor Rick Hopson, the supervisors noted that their stretch of California has repeatedly been savaged by wildfire. In 2018, roughly 40 miles to the north, the Camp fire destroyed much of Paradise and neighboring communities.

“The Forest Service should be looking at ways of increasing public safety, rather than reducing it,” the county supervisors wrote. “The Colby Mountain fire lookout provides a proven capability that complements — rather than replaces — modern fire detection technologies.”

Jordan, 77, recalled the mid-October day when a crew from the Forest Service came to the mountain for what he believed would be his regular fall departure, shutting up the fire tower until its reopening next summer. Instead, he said, a supervisor told him, “We have to get all your stuff out. You’re not coming back.”

“I was dumbstruck. In a state of shock,” Jordan said. “There was not even a ‘thank you’ for my service all these years.”

Hopson and others at the Forest Service did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

As many as 7,000 fire lookout towers once dotted the landscape nationally, but only about 2,000 remain, an estimated 500 of them staffed, said Michael Guerin, chair of the Forest Fire Lookout Assn., a national group dedicated to preserving the watchtowers.

It costs as little as $17,000 a season to staff a fire lookout, Guerin said. “They say we need every tool in the toolbox to fight these big fires,” he added. “Well this is one tool that doesn’t cost that much that we’re throwing away.”

Finding love atop the tower

Not long into the new millennium, Jordan was impressed by one visitor to the fire tower. She asked how giant fire plumes seem to collapse on themselves.

“She was smart as a whip. Well, we started dating and 17 months later we were married,” Jordan recalled of his wife, Cheryl. They spent long summer nights atop the lookout, cooking on a propane stove and monitoring visitors, human and animal. He’s gone it alone since 2021, when Cheryl died. Her ashes sit close at hand, in an urn decorated with the image of a fire lookout.

Jordan said he would not have traded his life atop the tower for anything.

“The first thing about it is the view, up there at 6,000 feet. The sense of being remote. You get away from it all. And sometimes at night you’d have meteor showers. Bears would wander past. And you get to know the people who hike up there. Some would even bring me cookies,” Jordan said. “There was a sense of freedom, just watching the world go by.”

Today’s top stories

ICE protesters crowd the front of the federal building in Los Angeles to demonstrate against the Trump administration and those killed by ICE.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Immigration raids continue across L.A.

• Federal agents have deployed new tactics for arrests.
• Agents move faster now, making it difficult for immigration activists to respond before the targets are whisked away, organizers and activists say.
• Overall, ICE is finding it increasingly fraught to target violent criminals due to the community backlash over indiscriminate sweeps.
• Anti-ICE ‘national shutdown’ protests are planned in L.A. County. Here’s where to find them.

Peet’s Coffee is closing outlets in Southern California

• Peet’s Coffee is closing at least two Southern California locations by month’s end as part of a broader store realignment affecting 27 of 283 locations nationwide.
• The closures follow Keurig Dr Pepper’s $18-billion takeover of parent company JDE Peet’s.
• Unionized workers claim management failed legal obligations to bargain over closures.

California companies on the front lines

• These California companies want to make keyboards obsolete with voice-based AI diction.
• Have you ever dreamed of owning a flying car? This California company is already selling them.

The race for governor

• California’s 2026 gubernatorial race lacks a clear front-runner for the first time in more than 25 years
• More voters are undecided than backing any candidate.
• The race has received little national attention and lacks a candidate who has captured voters’ imagination.

What else is going on

• Breaking: Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles.
• Dr. Oz traveled to L.A. seeking fraud. Newsom says his findings are ‘baseless and racist allegations.’
• Santa Clarita girls hockey team members were injured in a fatal multi-vehicle crash in Colorado
• A Waymo vehicle hit a child near a Santa Monica elementary school.
• Shirley Raines, a homeless advocate on Skid Row and nonprofit founder, has died at 58.
• A man was bound and robbed of his jewelry at a parking structure near LAX, police say.
• Why California’s fight over ticket fraud has become a proxy war against Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
• The LAPD oversight commission overrules its chief and says the fatal shooting of a trans woman was “out of policy.”
• Tom Homan says he will scale back federal agents in Minnesota — if they have access to jails.

Commentary and opinions

• Is there such a thing as a peaceful protest in today’s ICE age? Friday’s planned rebellion will be a test, writes news and culture critic Lorraine Ali.
• Trump imagines the buck will never stop with him, argues columnist Jackie Calmes.

This morning’s must reads

California

For Subscribers

Avalanches killed two ski patrollers at Mammoth in a year. What’s going wrong?

Were managers pushing too hard to open? Are young patrollers afraid to speak up? With two dead in deliberately triggered slides, questions are swirling.

Jan. 29, 2026

Other must reads

• After its Warner defeat, Comcast loads up on Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl and the NBA.
• LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes is named Mexico’s hospitality house for the 2026 World Cup.
• “New evidence” gives Jordan Chiles a chance to secure the return of her Olympic bronze medal.

For your downtime

June Mountain ski resort, popular with families, offers lessons and many beginner and intermediate runs.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• Travel: “No lines and big, wide-open runs:” This woodsy ski town is like Mammoth without the crowds.
• Restaurants: A modern Mexican supernova becomes the neighborhood restaurant L.A. needs.
• Hiking: 3 hiking trails near L.A. that offer opportunities for quiet reflection.

Staying in

• Music: Bruce Springsteen has released a new protest song critical of “King Trump” and the immigration crackdowns in Minnesota.
• Books: 20 books we can’t wait to read in 2026.
• Recipe: Here’s a recipe for roasted winter strawberries with ice cream.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, Sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.

A question for you: Where can you see the best sunsets in California? (Send us your photos!)

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally ... your photo of the day

Tess van Hulsen and Andrew Chait’s living room is filled with secondhand furniture, art and accessories. The sofa is from Home Consignment Center, and the chairs and coffee table are from Facebook Marketplace.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Ronaldo Bolaños at the rental of a Westwood couple who have furnished their rental almost entirely with thrifted and secondhand finds.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.