Sugarloaf Lookout Still Standing But “Threatened” By Its Namesake Fire

An historic lookout in Chelan County is still standing within the eye of a raging wildfire that has burned nearly 8,000 acres in less than a week.

The Lower Sugarloaf Fire shares part of its namesake with the Sugarloaf Lookout, which was erected in 1914 on the Wenatchee River Ranger District within the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and is one of the oldest lookout posts in Washington State.

Now, 111 years later, the lookout is in jeopardy of being damaged or even lost entirely to the very elements that it was designed to spot in order to prevent potential devastation.

Spokesperson Bill Queen with Pacific Northwest Complex Incident Management Team 3 says the Lower Sugarloaf Fire is currently within about 1,000 feet (or 333 yards) of the lookout. And while that number might seem way too close for comfort, there are several natural and purposefully-built safeguards which are working in favor of likely sparing the century-plus-old structure from meeting a fiery end.

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While Queen definitely defines the lookout as "threatened," he adds that its positioning within a mostly rocky portion of the wilderness is certainly a good thing since, as he quips, "rocks don't burn like trees do during wildfires."

In addition to its anchoring on the stony ground, the lookout is also naturally protected from wildfires by the sheer number of very short snags which almost completely encircle it. These spikey remnants of long-dead trees are also very slow, if not completely immune to catching fire, although there are a few taller trees immediately adjacent to the lookout which might pose it more of a risk should the blaze creep within literal knocking distance.

While the inherent securities of the lookout do offer some comfort, even more solace can be found within the preventative measures taken by the crews assigned to the Lower Sugarloaf incident.

Robin DeMario, spokesperson for the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, says fire personnel wrapped the Sugarloaf Lookout in protective material earlier this week, and also installed an extensive network of temporary sprinklers around its entire perimeter.

Both DeMario and Queen believe these efforts, along with the lookout's intrinsic defenses, should prove enough to keep it from becoming another statistical casualty under the column of structures that have been lost to Northwest wildfires...although they each caution that there's never any guarantee that the worst won't eventually befall the storied landmark.

Queen noted that there is quite a bit of heat being generated by the fire in the area of the lookout due to its close proximity, but that a shift in wind directions from the east on Friday should aid in quelling some of the fever surrounding the structure. (see the latest topographic map of the Lower Sugarloaf Fire by clicking here.)

As the Lower Sugarloaf Fire marches into the weekend, fire managers are optimistic that cooler and wetter weather will not only help in further shielding the lookout, but also in assisting firefighters at finally gaining some progress in corralling the blaze, which is still officially listed at 0% containment.

Regardless of every factor involved in the incident - be it elemental or human, there's still just one thing that is known for certain: only the days that lie ahead will tell the fate of the legendary lookout, which will either remain a part of the forest's landscape in assumable perpetuity, or become a would-be phoenix left to rise from its own pile of ashes that were made by the very phenomenon which was the reason for its creation in the first place.