Historic Bull of the Woods Fire Lookout lost to flames of the Bull Complex wildfire

Nearly 80-year-old structure was on National Register of Historic Places

SANDY, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bull of the Woods Fire Lookout, first built at the wilderness site nearly a century ago, has been destroyed by the advancing Bull Complex Fire, Mt. Hood National Forest officials said Monday.

Incident management team officials confirmed Sunday night that the fire lookout, located in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was lost to fire activity on Sunday, forest officials said in a Facebook post.

Known to many who worked there over the years as "The Bull," it was one of the last Oregon fire lookouts in a wilderness area, the Statesman Journal reported in a 2018 feature. It was built in 1928, then rebuilt into its current iteration in 1942. It was staffed each year until 1964 and intermittently by volunteers until the 1980s.

The lookout, north of Detroit, was a popular hiking destination, especially for those who enjoy the history and background of fire lookouts.

"We acknowledge that losing this historic Lookout is a loss that will be felt by many in the area and beyond,” said Rick Connell, Incident Commander of NR Team 4. 

Over the past several weeks, as the fire moved toward the historic Lookout, several actions had been taken by firefighters to protect it, officials said. Plans to wrap the lookout in structure wrap material were made several times but had to be canceled due to dangerous conditions to firefighter safety and the unavailability of trained personnel.

"Working on dangerously high and structurally compromised materials in a remote wilderness location to wrap a structure requires firefighters who are specifically trained for that type of work," the statement said. "If a person falls from a high surface without appropriate fall protection training and equipment, the consequences could be severe."

Also, they said, "The extremely steep terrain on all sides of the Lookout’s location also creates dangerous wildfire conditions where fire can move quickly uphill without warning. The combination of safe forecast fire behavior conditions and trained personnel needed were never able to converge for structure wrapping. The safety of the public and firefighters is always the highest priority in fire response."

On Tuesday, August 31, a helicopter rappelling fire crew flew to the site and cleared trees and brush around the lookout to make it more defensible. But officials said the crew could not safely remain at the site, since it was on steep terrain directly in front of the approaching fire.

For the past six days, numerous hours of helicopter flight time had been used to drop water to slow the movement toward and intensity of the fire near the lookout. On Sunday, smoke obscured visibility on the north side of the fire and it wasn’t safe to fly aviation in that area. Fire activity also increased on three slope aspects below the lookout and made fast uphill runs, creating a heavy fire ember shower at the lookout site.

"This type of fire behavior is what was concerning for firefighter safety every time the discussion came up about firefighters working at the lookout site," the forest statement said.

A smoke inversion and active fire behavior limited visibility for aircraft to safely fly and limited the tactical operations that could be performed for fire suppression. There are no safety zones or roads near the lookout for firefighters to safely engage in firefighting on the ground. The fire was also making a push and threatening multiple values at risk on other portions of the fire at the same time. 

"It is disappointing to see a historic structure like this lookout destroyed by fire," the national forest statement said. "However, many photos and stories have been preserved to continue to tell the story of the Bull of the Woods Lookout for years to come.